| Danial Norjidi |
THE British High Commissioner to Brunei Darussalam, Richard Lindsay shared that he is looking to explore opportunities to further the economic relationship between Brunei Darussalam and the United Kingdom.
During an interview with the Borneo Bulletin, the high commissioner said the relationship between Brunei Darussalam and the United Kingdom is incredibly strong with a long history.
He said one of his personal goals is to broaden this relationship, “particularly in the economic sphere, to look at other areas where the UK can help Brunei on its journey towards achieving the Vision 2035 goal.
“We’ve got particular areas of expertise that we’d like to share with Brunei, and I’d look for more areas where we can build our economic partnership in a range of different ways.”
Elaborating further, the high commissioner said, “One of the areas that I’m very keen to push forward is on Islamic banking and finance, and the development of Brunei’s capital market, where clearly UK and TheCityUK has collectively has a lot to offer, a lot of experience, a lot of expertise, and we see that there’s a great opportunity for us to work with Brunei as it pursues those objectives.”
TheCityUK is a representative body for the UK-based financial and related professional services industry.
“We are already working with a number of different authorities here to build those links, and bringing in experts from the UK, whether it’s from the Bank of England or from TheCityUK, to share expertise and look for ways in which we can cooperate and develop.”
On whether Brunei’s geographical position in the Asean region could appeal to UK businesses, the High Commissioner said, “Absolutely. This is right in the centre of Asean.”
He noted that there are hundreds of millions of people within a very short flying time of Brunei, and that the country has a very impressive airport.
“Indeed UK companies have been involved in helping to develop the civil aviation in this country, so again, another area where the UK has helped put Brunei into the very enviable position it is in now.”
“That’s part of the development – how can we help Brunei, and how can we find additional areas where the UK can help Brunei to exploit that geographic position and its infrastructure and the existing advantages that it has.”
On the potential trade delegations, he said, “We focus on trying to identify the opportunities and then bring in specific companies that are interested in specific opportunities.”
The appointment of the new trade envoy to Brunei Darussalam, Paul Scully, was recently announced in a press release from the British High Commission. The appointment is part of a whole-of-government approach to boosting bilateral trade, with a focus on priority markets and sectors. The press release included a comment from Scully, who said, “I am delighted and honoured to have been appointed as the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Brunei. I see huge potential to build on the longstanding economic relationship between the UK and Brunei, and I look forward to maximising new opportunities in this exciting market.”
Meanwhile, the British High Commissioner said, “The appointment of a new trade envoy is a very clear demonstration of the UK’s commitment to broadening our economic partnership with Brunei.”
He also noted that total trade between the UK and Brunei was valued at £407m in 2015 and said that he would be working closely with Paul Scully to develop areas of bilateral economic cooperation in line with the economic development of Brunei Vision 2035.
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