BBYB 2021

INVESTMENT POTENTIAL

Brunei last held the ASEAN chairmanship in 2013

with the theme “Our people, our future together”.

The country’s chairmanship this year will revolve

around the theme ‘We Care, We Prepare, We

Prosper’, as it hopes to advance regional recovery

and community-building efforts.

His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah

Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan

Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien,

Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam

in a titah via video link at the 37

ASEAN Summit

revealed that the year 2021’s focus re ects three

priority areas Brunei plans to promote: caring for the

people and each other’s well-being; preparing for

future opportunities and challenges; and prospering

together as a uni ed region.

Despite enjoying prosperity with a growing

economy and improved connectivity, His Majesty

said that nancial crisis, natural disasters, energy

shortages and climate change are still imminent.

ASEAN must continue its solidarity and centrality

to overcome the challenges to global activities

brought about by COVID-19, said His Majesty.

“ASEAN’s strength is through its collective desire

for peace, development and prosperity as enshrined

in the 1967 Bangkok Declaration and the ASEAN

Charter. The people always come rst in advancing

together as one ASEAN Community, guided by

values and aspirations articulated decades ago,”

His Majesty said.

His Majesty believes that the three fundamental

areas Brunei hopes to promote as it assumes the

ASEAN Chairmanship in 2021 will strengthen

ASEAN’s solidarity and reinforce ASEAN centrality.

“Moreover, it will accelerate efforts to recover

from the pandemic and realise the ambitions of

an inclusive ASEAN community. To this end, the

support and contributions of dialogue partners are

important to help shape the regional outlook and

ASEAN’s post-2025 Vision,” His Majesty added.

The Chairmanship of ASEAN rotates annually, based

on the alphabetical order of the English names of

member states.

A member state assuming the Chairmanship shall

chair the ASEAN Summit and related summits, the

ASEAN Coordinating Council, the three ASEAN

Community Councils, relevant ASEAN Sectoral

Ministerial Bodies and senior of cials, and the

Committee of Permanent Representatives.

The host country shall chair high-ranking and

ministerial meetings, promoting the bloc’s interests

and prosperity, recommending initiatives and new

plans, and ensuring timely response to emergencies.

BIMP-EAGA

The Brunei Darussalam–Indonesia–Malaysia–

Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA)

is a cooperation initiative established in 1994 to spur

development in remote and less developed areas in

the four participating Southeast Asian countries.

The subregion covers the entire sultanate of Brunei

Darussalam; the provinces of Kalimantan, Sulawesi,

Maluku and West Papua of Indonesia; the states

of Sabah and Sarawak and the federal territory of

Labuan in Malaysia; and the island of Mindanao and

the province of Palawan in the Philippines.

The BIMP-EAGA website notes, “Through BIMP-

EAGA, the four countries want to generate balanced

and inclusive growth aswell as contribute to regional

economic integration in the ASEAN Economic

Community. They want to boost trade, tourism, and

investments by easing the movement of people,

goods, and services across borders; making the best

use of common infrastructure and natural resources;

and taking the fullest advantage of economic

complementation.”

The website also notes that BIMP-EAGA has grown

over the last 25 years “thanks to strong ownership

and commitment, as demonstrated by the nancial,

human and technical resources put in by the member

governments”. In 2017, BIMP-EAGA’s combined

gross domestic product reached USD287 billion,

merchandise trade surged 21.5 per cent, and annual

tourist arrivals grew 6.6 per cent.

BIMP-EAGA’s Vision 2025 is a development blueprint

for 2017 to 2025, detailing strategies to narrow

development gaps, sustainably manage natural

resources and promote stronger connectivity. The

vision puts focus on three main outcomes, namely:

building a competitive and green manufacturing

sector; creating a sustainable, competitive, and

climate-resilient agriculture and sheries industries;

and transforming BIMP-EAGA into a sustainable,

well-developed and connected multi-country tourism

destination that bene ts less developed areas.

During a webinar held in September 2020 on Halal

tradeandinvestmentopportunities,amongthepoints

highlighted was that the robust connections on Halal

between the Philippines and Brunei Darussalam

from the implementation of the memorandum of

understanding (MoU) on Halal Industry and Export

Development and Promotion bene tted the two

countries and BIMP-EAGA.

It was also shared that the private sector has

initiatives in establishing production, distribution

and trading hubs for Halal products and services in

BIMP-EAGA. The Brunei Darussalam BIMP-EAGA

Business Council (BDBEBC) has identi ed supply,

manufacturing and consumer bases in the BIMP-

EAGA in its strategic platform which, when realised,

would ensure the economic development of BIMP-

EAGA and turn it into a main Halal hub that would

have a signi cant role in the global Halal market.