| Danial Norjidi |
BRUNEI will welcome investment from Vietnam, especially in the sectors of Halal, business services, technology and creative, tourism and oil and gas downstream industry.
This was said by Pehin Datu Singamanteri Colonel (Rtd) Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Awang Haji Mohammad Yasmin bin Haji Umar, Minister of Energy and Industry at the Prime Minister’s Office while delivering a presentation at the Brunei Darussalam-Vietnam Business Forum yesterday.
In his presentation, the Minister spoke on why Brunei Darussalam is “an excellent destination for investment and business”.
“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’s vision has emphasised on the need for Brunei Darussalam to be a pro-business country and the government has worked very hard to ensure that Brunei is able to meet that vision,” he said.
He began by speaking on Brunei’s location, connectivity and access to markets. “Brunei, like Vietnam, is strategically located to provide the ideal platform into the Asean market.”
He said that Brunei has good connectivity. By sea via Muara Port, Brunei has 13 shipping lines to 15 ports in Asia. “It takes about two days for shipping of exports from Muara Port to Da Nang. There is much potential for exports from Brunei to Vietnam, including our crude oil as the Dung Quat Refinery is located south of Da Nang.”
Brunei’s connectivity by air includes flights to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Dubai and London daily. “Royal Brunei Airlines flies to Ho Chi Minh four times a week and it takes less than two hours to get there.”
He also touched on Brunei’s Internet connectivity, highlighting that it is linked via three major submarine cables, which are so far only 20 per cent utilised.
In addition, Brunei is a member of Asean, APEC, TPP, WTO and BIMP-EAGA, and therefore has competitive access to key markets via agreements under these mechanisms, he said.
The minister then proceeded to underline Brunei’s favourable tax climate and co-investment partnership.
Pehin Orang Kaya Pekerma Dewa Dato Seri Setia Lim Jock Seng, Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade II; Pehin Datu Singamanteri Colonel (Rtd) Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Awang Haji Mohammad Yasmin bin Haji Umar, Minister of Energy and Industry at the Prime Minister’s Office; and Tran Dai Quang, President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam during the forum. – DEAN KASSIM
“Our favourable tax climate means that there is no personal income, payroll, goods and service, capital gains or manufacturing tax,” he said. “The only business-related tax payable is a low corporate income tax of 18.5 per cent. Investors may own 100 per cent of their business in Brunei Darussalam.
“Alternatives for co-investment are also available under the auspices of the Ministry of Finance through the Strategic Development Capital (SDC) fund and government-linked companies (GLCs).”
He also highlighted the country’s friendly and supportive business environment. “Doing business in Brunei Darussalam has become much easier, faster and more efficient.”
“The government continues to find ways to improve the business environment with a strong drive towards improving Ease of Doing Business. This is driven by His Royal Highness Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah, the Crown Prince and Senior Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office.
“Brunei laws are pro-business and pro-investors, including comprehensive intellectual property laws that ensure that IPR to your investments and innovations are protected worldwide.”
He also added that the Business Support Centre has been set up under DARE (Darussalam Enterprise) with 15 different government agencies housed under one roof to improve and ensure efficiency of processes and approvals.
Moving on, the minister shared that, with regards to foreign direct investment (FDI), Brunei has focus on five priority clusters – those which in it can establish a niche based on the country’s unique strengths as a nation.
These five clusters are: Halal, including the food and pharmaceutical sector with companies such as Ghanim and Simpor Pharma; Business Services, including the development of a robust logistics service industry to support FDI and MSMEs; Innovative, Technology and Creative, which includes promotion of entrepreneurship in ICT so as to develop Brunei’s digital economy; Tourism, to leverage Brunei’s eco-tourism potential; and Downstream (oil and gas), to leverage Brunei’s current economic strength in the oil and gas sector.
His presentation also touched on the FDI approval process, noting that there are several FDI projects in the pipeline including Hengyi Refinery and Petrochemicals, Brunei Fertilisers Industry, Western Foods and Packaging and Hiseaton on aquaculture.
Speaking on Halal food, he affirmed that business opportunities exist throughout the supply chain in the Halal food industry, with much more that can be done to add value to the industry and generate further spin-off industries including dairy products, gelatine manufacturing, confectionaries and processing.
He shared that the government is in the process of developing a food strategy for Brunei Darussalam which centres on leveraging the network and capabilities of Ghanim International Corporation, the government-owned commercial food and distribution company.
On Halal Pharmaceuticals, he said, “Further opportunities can be spun off in areas such as gelatine manufacturing, detergent manufacturing, chemical waste management, packaging and bottling and accredited testing labs.
“We have had successful companies such as Simpor Pharma producing Halal pharmaceuticals for the global Halal market – there is a demand for such Halal pharmaceuticals from China, Russia and the Middle East.”
For the technology and creative industry, he said that the existing industries include various telecommunication, education and knowledge based service providers. These industries provide further opportunity for expansion into areas that capitalise on excess bandwidth capacity and human resource, including data centres, flights schools, multimedia developers and R&D activities.
Business Services (logistics) was another area he touched on, saying that existing activities in the air and sea shipping industry see a number of small and big local companies participating in providing services.
“Leveraging on Brunei Darussalam’s strategic location within the heart of Asean and on a number of important trade routes (including the Maritime Silk Road), opportunities are available for investors to provide a number of key logistics, storage and distribution services from Brunei Darussalam, including port operators and managers, ship maintenance and repair, warehousing and halal meat transhipment and processing hub.”
He then moved on to the oil and gas downstream industry.
“The existing downstream and petrochemical industries provide the opportunity for investors to utilise products from the current industries directly as feedstock for other products,” he said. “Growing the downstream industry will help Brunei Darussalam diversify its energy sector and optimise development of higher-value-added downstream derivatives.”
He said that this will be even more important with the expected further production of gas in the next 10 years or so from different petroleum blocks in the country.
“We recognise the competency and capability of Vietnamese companies in the oil and gas industry as evidence by the good work done by PTSC Mechanical & Construction for the EPCC contract with Total in Brunei for the Maharaja Lela South (MLS) Jacket.”
He noted that PTSC M&C had shown a good example as a foreign contractor by opening wider opportunities for the involvement of local Bruneian companies and workforce. “This project is the model of choice for cooperation between Bruneian and Vietnamese companies in the future.”
The minister then highlighted that there are eight industrial parks in Brunei dedicated for FDI, with the main ones including Sungai Liang Industrial Park, Pulau Muara Besar Industrial Park and Salambigar Industrial Park.
Concluding his presentation, he said, “I would like to stress that companies from Vietnam are more than welcome to invest in Brunei, especially in the various sectors that I have mentioned.
“Rest assured, we are happy for Vietnam to be our close friend and partner in business, which would only serve to forge closer links in bilateral relations between both countries and their people.”
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