Then President Nguyen Phu Trong (R) and Sultan Darussalam Haji Hassanal Bolkiah at a reception for the latter in 2019 (Photo: VNA) As members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), both Vietnam and Brunei have significantly contributed to all cooperation areas of the 10-member grouping, and played an active role in outlining development and cooperation orientations and making major decisions of the bloc.
They, therefore, have contributed to strengthening solidarity within ASEAN, raising its role and position in the region and the world at large, and maintaining peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region.
On the occasion of the State visit to Vietnam by Sultan Darussalam Haji Hassanal Bolkiah in 2019, the two sides advanced their relationship to a comprehensive partnership on March 27.
The upgrading is of great significance as it reflects improvements in both quantity and quality in the bilateral ties as well as the resolve of the two countries’ leaders to enhance the cooperation intensively and pragmatically, matching the new situation and common trends of the region and the world.
Also during the visit, then President Nguyen Phu Trong held talks with the Brunei leader. Host and guest shared the view there remains room for the two countries to boost economic cooperation.
Despite complex developments of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, they still maintained high-level meetings flexibly. On the sidelines of the ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting in Jakarta, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met the Brunei Sultan on April 24, while Chairman of the National Assembly Vuong Dinh Hue held talks with Speaker of the Legislative Council of Brunei Abdul Rahman Taib on June 9.
Second Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brunei Darussalam Dato Erywan Pehin Yusof also held phone talks with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh on January 19, 2021, and with Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son on April 13 the same year.
Small as it is in natural area and population, yet Brunei’s per capita income is the second highest in ASEAN, and the country has been seen as a promising market for Vietnamese consumer goods, farm produce and food.
After the opening of a direct air route between Ho Chi Minh City and Brunei in October 2014, Vietnam has increasingly become a popular tourist destination for Brunei people, bringing the two countries closer.
In trade, Vietnamese goods such as coffee, juice and dried fruit have penetrated the Brunei market. Vietnamese construction firms have started road, bridge, oil, gas, and fertiliser projects in Brunei, notably the Vietnam Machinery Installation Corporation LILAMAl which won an 85 million USD bid to build a fertiliser plant.
The two countries have also cooperated closely in national defence with the establishment of military attaché offices in each other’s country and the regularly exchange of high-ranking delegations.
Cooperation in other fields like fishery, security, and transnational crime combat has also been strengthened.
Education is also one of the priority cooperation areas between Vietnam and Brunei. The University of Brunei Darussalam and the Vietnam FPT University have exchanged many students and teachers.
Within his official visit to Brunei from September 6-8, Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son and Second Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brunei Darussalam Dato Erywan Pehin Yusof co-chaired the second meeting of the Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC-2) between the two countries.
Sultan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah (R) hosts a reception for Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son (L) who is in Brunei from September 6-8 to co-chair the second meeting of the Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC-2) between the two countries. (Photo: VNA) They will work together to cope with both traditional and non-traditional security challenges, including trans-national organised crime, cyber crime and terrorism.
The two sides will also increase negotiations on collaboration in the transfer of sentenced persons and the crime combat./.
VNA
