BBYB 2021

Borneo Bulletin Yearbook 2021

Free trade agreements (FTAs) are signed between

multiple nations to facilitate open trade. Brunei

Darussalam sees FTAs as a vital part of its foreign

trade policy to spur economic growth and ensure

its people, goods, services and investments have

access to wider markets around the world. The

country’s rst bilateral FTA, the Brunei-Japan

Economic Partnership Agreement, was signed in

2007.

Brunei has been actively engaged in FTAs through

its membership in the Association of Southeast

Asian Nations (ASEAN), establishing free trade

with countries including China, South Korea,

Japan, India, Australia and New Zealand. The

ASEAN-Hong Kong, China Free Trade Agreement

was signed in 2017.

At the end of a four-day ASEANSummit in Vietnam

on November 15, 2020, leaders from 15 Asia-

Paci c nations sealed one of the biggest trade

deals in history - the Regional Comprehensive

Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement.

The agreement was signed by Australia, China,

Japan, the Republic of Korea and New Zealand,

as well as the 10 ASEAN member states: Brunei,

Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,

the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

It is a signi cant milestone whereby the RCEP

becomes the largest FTA in the world, creating

a trading area that covers a third of the world’s

population, gross domestic product (GDP) or trade

volume with ASEAN at its centre.

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 emphasised that the RCEP Agreement

will play a signi cant role in the region’s post-

pandemic recovery efforts. His Majesty also

expressed con dence that the RCEP would be

an engine for growth that will shape the region’s

economic landscape in the years to come.

Negotiations on the RCEP Agreement took

eight years, with the rst negotiations having

commenced in Brunei in 2013.

In June 2020, following the 36

ASEAN Summit,

leaders of ASEAN released a vision statement

whereby it was expressed that they intend to

deepen and expand economic cooperation with

all partners, with emphasis on ASEAN’s FTA

partners, to support economic integration in the

region.

The country’s active engagement of FTAs provides

various bene ts for local businesses, which will

also spur economic growth.

Through FTAs, local businesses can enjoy the

reduction or elimination of tariffs. This will reduce

trade transaction costs as a whole and will lead

to cheaper prices of goods, while also promoting

free ow of goods in the region, hence enabling

local businesses to expand in a larger scale. With

cheaper costs to promote and sell their products,

local businesses have the opportunity to enter

foreign markets.

Local businesses can enjoy the bene ts of the FTAs

by using a Certi cate of Origin upon submitting

their supporting documents. A Certi cate of Origin

is a document that certi es the origin of the goods

imported to any country, issued by the Trade

Facilitation and Promotion Division, Ministry of

Finance and Economy.

FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS