China keen to invest in Brunei, facilitate more projects

Secretary-General of the Academic Committee and Associate Researcher at the International Cooperation Centre in Beijing Huang Yongfu said this on the side-lines |of a recent presentation entitled “Sino-Brunei relationship under the Belt and Road initiative”.
Huang said more Chinese firms have expressed interest to cooperate and invest in Brunei’s infrastructure through the initiative.
The initiative is a connectivity plan |that seeks to revive the Silk Road trad-|ing route by building modern roads |and ports linking China with the Indian Ocean and Europe through Southeast |Asia.
“The Chinese government and Chinese |companies have very strong interest in carrying out investments in Brunei. This is for sure,” he said.
Despite Brunei’s lack of technical expertise and market size, China is still eager to invest in the sultanate and will even provide financial support for development projects.
China is willing to tap into the IT industry, oil and gas-related industries, agriculture, tourism, traditional Chinese medicine and also the rapidly-growing halal food industry.
China has the capabilities to do so through funds such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
“There are some disadvantages in |relation to business environment in |Brunei such as lack of expertise but we |can help by bringing in the required |technologies to help boost the economy,” he said.
There is a need to work on information exchange between Brunei and China in order to accelerate investments.
“China-Brunei friendship has long been established and for China to invest in Brunei, it can be an opportunity for Brunei’s economic transition and will create a friendly diplomatic environment with China,” he said.
“We definitely see Brunei as a potential market and we look forward to partner with Brunei for future projects and cooperate in more areas,” he added.