BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
Saturday, August 7, 2010
BRUNEI is looking forward to attracting new trade partners and investments from the West with the anticipated conclusion of the ongoing negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
There is a potential for a lot more business trade and investment opportunities with the United States once the TPP is finalised, Vincent Cheong, chief executive officer of the Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB), told The Brunei Times yesterday. The US is part of the group of countries committed to getting the TPP free trade negotiations reach a conclusion.
Recent developments point to possibilities of US businesses finding trade and investment opportunities in Brunei.
Washington-based US-Asean Business Council (USABC), an organisation promoting trade and business ties with Southeast Asia, visited Brunei earlier in the week.
“In our presentation for the US trade mission, we mentioned possible business opportunities in Brunei,” said Cheong. “One of the comments (gathered) was they don’t have a very good awareness or high level of understanding of Brunei. So, one of the things we agreed to do is contact the USABC to speak and arrange a session to do a briefing to some of the members,” Cheong said ,adding that they are thinking of doing it this year.
BEDB is setting its sights on US multinationals represented in the USABC which is based in Singapore.
The USABC’s programme during the delegation’s latest visit to Brunei envisaged meetings with officials of the Brunei government, aimed at exploring potential avenues of cooperation. The mission tried to identify areas of mutual business interest.
Members of the USABC delegation included executives of two American energy companies, ConocoPhillips and Chevron Corporation.
Asked what exactly were the two energy companies interested in, Cheong said that from their questions during briefings, they were looking at upstream opportunities.
ConocoPhillips is part of Brunei’s Block K consortium along with Shell Deepwater Borneo and Mitsubishi.
PetroleumBRUNEI owns blocks J, K, L and M and all have already been awarded, which means if Chevron or any other company was interested in upstream exploration, PetroleumBRUNEI would have to open up new blocks.
Cheong said that in reference to PetroleumBRUNEI’s website, there are a lot of “white areas” which are unassigned and “potentially there is a lot of space to be given away”.
“Eventually, it will be something that PetroleumBRUNEI needs to decide when and where would they be looking at direct negotiations with some of the oil companies or tendering out some of the parts not given out to anybody,” said Cheong.
The mission to Brunei was jointly led by USABC vice president Marc Mealy, who is also responsible for promoting business ties with Malaysia, and Bill Lafferandre of ConocoPhillips, who chairs the USABC’s Brunei committee.
Mealy, who is familiar with the Asean region, particularly Brunei and Malaysia, said the Brunei visit reflected the USABC’s “strong desire” to explore opportunities to strengthen bilateral economic ties between the US and Brunei.
“The visit is a way for us to continue to build on Second Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Pehin Dato Lim Jock Seng’s highly successful visit to the US in May where he met executives from American companies, including several members of the USABC in Seattle, Washington state and Washington DC,” he said.
Mealy added that Brunei’s participation in the TPP negotiations, of which it is a founding member and serving as the host government of the third round of TPP negotiations in October, is an important contributing factor to an increase in Brunei’s profile among members of the American business community.
“Brunei is a strong partner for businesses looking to support the free trade area of the Asia-Pacific region,” he added.
During their visit, the USABC delegation held a packed schedule of meetings, including talks with Brunei Minister of Energy Pehin Datu Singamanteri Colonel (Rtd) Dato Seri Paduka Hj Mohammad Yasmin Hj Umar, Permanent Secretary Dato Lim Jock Hoi of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Brunei Petroleum Acting Chief Executive Officer Azren Taib and BEDB’s Cheong.
Brunei maintains a modest trade volume with the US, with two-way trade amounting to a mere US$140 million ($200 million) in 2009.
The Brunei Times
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