| Azlan Othman |
BRUNEI Darussalam has been urged to develop a Food and Beverage Association (FBA), on a level with other countries in the Asean region.
The call was made by the Singapore-based Director of the Asean Food and Beverage Alliance (AFBA), Siti Noorbaiyah binti Abdul Malik, to officers from the DARe (Darussalam Enterprise) during a meeting yesterday.
Siti Noorbaiyah also pointed that AFBA makes use of the Brunei Darussalam National Chamber of Commerce and Industry as the contact point, in the absence of a FBA in Brunei.
She lauded the initiative made by the Sultanate in forming DARe, for the public to acquire services through the Business Support Centre.
Siti Noorbaiyah is currently in Brunei Darussalam to conduct a survey required by the Asean Food Products Working Group, who wishes to see the capability of Brunei Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in comply with Asean common principles regarding food control requirements.
Siti Noorbaiyah (L), Director of AFBA with Brunei Chair for AFBA, Halim Saim (2nd L) and DARe offic-ers. – AZLAN OTHMAN
“Ninety-five per cent of food industries in Asean are SMEs,” she said. “Indonesia alone has 45 million SMEs across the sectors, out of which 10 per cent (4.5 million) are enrolled in food industry, and in which 95 per cent are micro SMEs that are home-based industries to increase economic livelihood of the family.
“We need to concentrate more on Asean, because if this region has no identity in food industry, then there is no point to cover China and India, as they are large economies.”
Siti Noorbaiyah also noted a record-breaking foreign direct investment (FDI) of US$133 million to Asean up to 2014, making the region the largest FDI recipient in the developing world, overtaking China in terms of FDI recipients from around the world.
“DARe, could develop the ecosystem that it has envisioned and bring in more FDIs to Brunei Darussalam as a supplier to the multi-national industry in this region,” she said.
Two regional free trade areas in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, of which Brunei is a signatory, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), would include at least 50 per cent of the world population to boost the global GDP.
“Both these FTAs bring economic wealth to this region, and if don’t take this opportunity, it is a loss to Asean, given its centrality. Size does matter and Asean needs to work together,” said Siti Noorbaiyah.
Meanwhile, Halim Saim, the Brunei Darussalam Chair for AFBA, said they could deal with issues through relevant agencies and facilitate food safety and hygiene and licensing processes with the formation of an FBA, to meet the current needs and standards of the Asean community.
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