Bandar Seri Begawan，February 5（AseanAll）— The government of Brunei and the government of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China recently signed a memorandum of cooperation to continue upgrading economic and trade cooperation along the Brunei-Guangxi Economic Corridor.

On February 2, 2023，the 3rd Meeting of Guangxi-Brunei Economic Corridor Joint Cooperation was held online. Lan Tianli, Governor of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of P. R. China, Amin Liew, Minister at the Prime Minister's Office and Minister of Finance and Economy II of Brunei, Pehin Rahmani, Ambassador of Brunei to China, Wang Haitao, Chargé d'affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Brunei attended the meeting and delivered speeches.

The meeting witnessed the signing of the "Upgraded Guangxi-Brunei Economic Corridor Cooperation Memorandum of Understanding" and a batch of industrial project cooperation agreements, covering international trade, financial cooperation, cultural exchanges, international logistics, cross-border e-commerce, technical cooperation , and so forth.

Lan Tianli stressed that Guangxi and Brunei have been enjoying close exchanges, especially since the construction of economic corridor in September 2014. The economic and trade cooperation between the two sides has expanded continuously, with a number of key projects put to operation. The economic corridor has become an important platform to deepen cooperation between China and Brunei.

Lan said that Guangxi is willing to join hands with Brunei, take the signing of the upgraded MOU as a new starting point to better implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, and further promote the establishment of the economic corridor as a dual demonstration project of China-BIMP-EAGA Cooperation and the construction of New International Land-Sea Corridor, making new contributions to the further development of China-Brunei Strategic Cooperative Partnership.

Amin Liew recalled that, ever since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Brunei and China, the cooperation between the two sides in various fields, including trade and investment, has continued to develop. China, as Brunei's top three trading partners, plays a positive role in promoting the diversification of Brunei's economy. While Brunei is centrally located in Southeast Asia, and the Muara Port Company, a joint venture between the two countries, also plays an important role in linking the sub-regional, regional and global markets. 

With the signing of the upgraded MOU on cooperation between Brunei and Guang Xi, it is believed that the economic corridor will bring more opportunities for cooperation between the two sides, and it is hoped that China and Brunei will further strengthen cooperation in areas such as aquaculture, downstream oil and gas industries, food, ICT, and tourism, Liew said.

In his speech, Charge d'Affaires Wang Haitao spoke highly of the achievements made in the building of the economic corridor and its positive role in strengthening the economic and trade relationship between China and Brunei and injecting vigor in Wawasan 2035 of Brunei. He said that since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Brunei more than 30 years ago, especially the upgrading of bilateral relations to strategic cooperative partnership in 2018, the political mutual trust between the two countries has been deepening, economic and trade cooperation has developed rapidly, and the joint construction of Belt and Road projects have yielded remarkable results, driving effectively the growth of bilateral trade to hit record highs for two consecutive years. Looking into the future, the prospect of China and Brunei cooperation is even brighter. 

Brunei Ambassador to China Pehin Rahmani expressed that the friendship between Brunei and China has a long history and the two countries are valued partners for each other. The peoples of the two countries have stood by each other during the pandemic and overcome the difficulties together, which further demonstrated the deep friendship between the two sides. On the occasion of the 5th anniversary of the establishment of the strategic cooperative partnership between Brunei and China, the signing of the upgraded MOU is timely and well-timed. H.E. Pehin Rahmani also expressed good wishes for new achievements on bilateral cooperation.

The upgraded MoU serves to reinforce the strong commitment by both parties to further strengthen the cooperation and development of the BGEC, established through a MoU signed between the two Governments during the China-ASEAN Expo on 17th September 2014 in Nanning, Guangxi. The BGEC JCC meeting acknowledged the solid progress that has been made in the cooperation of the BGEC, the continuous deepening of the economic and trade cooperation between Brunei Darussalam and Guangxi, and the development of various cooperation projects under the framework of the BGEC.