India and Brunei concluded Foreign Office Consultations in Bandar Seri Begawan
India and Brunei on Tuesday exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual interest and discussed ways to strengthen cooperation including in trade, commerce, investments, defence, and space, the Ministry of External Affairs said. These issues were discussed during the 8th Foreign Office Consultations between the two countries in Bandar Seri Begawan, the national capital of Brunei. According to the MEA, India and Brunei, which reviewed their bilateral relations during the FOC, also agreed to explore collaboration in the areas like ICT, agriculture, health, and pharma, maritime, culture and people-to-people. Both countries also agreed to celebrate the 40th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations in 2024 and strengthen high level exchanges. The two sides will also conclude at an early date, the MoUs under discussion. At the FOC, while India was represented by Saurabh Kumar, Secretary (East) in the MEA, Brunei was led by Penigran Norhashimah binti Pengiran Mohd Hassan, Permanent Secretary, MoFA The next round of consultations will be held at mutually convenient dates in New Delhi. Earlier, during his visit to Bandar Seri Begawan, Secretary (East), Saurabh Kumar called on Dato Haji Erywan, Minister of Foreign Affairs II, Dato Pengiran Shamhary, Minister of Transport and Info-Communications and Dato Dr. Amin Liew, Minister at PMO and Second Minister of Finance & Economy. Significantly, Brunei is home to more than 14,000 Indian nationals. Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan had undertaken a visit to the country in May this year. It was the first ministerial visit from India to Brunei since October 2019. Brunei has been supportive of India’s ‘Look East Policy’ and ‘Act East Policy’ for expansion and deepening of cooperation with ASEAN. Brunei, as Country Coordinator for India in ASEAN from July 2012 till June 2015, played an important role in bringing India closer to ASEAN. Brunei has been generally supportive of India and its candidature for elections to various international organisations. Defence relations Defence relations between India and Brunei have been expanding. The cooperation is by way of regular official level defence exchanges, visits of naval and coast guard ships, training and joint exercises and participation in each other’s defence exhibitions. Officials of the Defence Ministries from both countries had held a virtual meeting in January 2021. The MoU on Defence Cooperation was renewed for a further period of five years in 2021. Visit of Indian Navy Ships: INS Rana and INS Kulish in June 2006; INS Gharial and INS Kulish in October 2008; INS Airavat and INS Khukri in 2009; INS Ranvir and INS Jyoti in May 2011; Indian Coast Guard Ship ICGS Sagar in June 2011; INS Airavat in July 2011; INS Gharial in June 2013; Indian Coast Guard Ship ICGS “SAGAR” in March 2014; INS Shakti in August 2014; INS-Airavat in May 2016; INS Satpura in November 2017; Indian Coast Guard Ship ICGS ‘Shaunak’ in January 2019. INS Jalashwa visited Brunei in May 2021 to ferry to India Covid relief donated by the Indian diaspora. INS Shivalik & INS Kadmatt visited Muara Port in August 2021 for Passex with Brunei. Visit of Royal Brunei Navy Ships to India: A Bruneian ship, ‘KDB Darulaman’, participated in MILAN 2012 (Andaman); and Royal Brunei Navy’s Ship ‘KP 80 DARU TTAQWA’ visited India (Mumbai) in August 2014. Defence Exhibitions in India: Brunei delegations participated in DEFEXPO 2010, 2012, 2016 & 2018 and in AERO INDIA in 2015 and 2017. Participation in Defence Courses: The officers from Indian armed forces have regularly attended the Royal Brunei Armed Forces Command Staff Course at Staff College, Brunei. So far, seven officers from the Indian Armed Forces have participated in these courses; three officers of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces attended the senior officers’ course at the National Defence College (NDC) of India in 2001, 2009 and 2014. Squadron Leader K. Simpi, an Indian Air Force Officer, attended the 11th Command & Staff Course 2021 (Jan-Oct 2021). Major Brijesh Kumar attended the 12th Command & Staff Course 2022. Trade and commerce relations India’s main exports to Brunei consist of automobiles, transport equipment, rice and spices. India is one of the largest importers of crude oil from Brunei and it has been importing crude oil worth approximately USD 500-600 million every year. A few Bruneian businessmen have participated in trade fairs in India in the health and IT services sectors. The most recent Bruneian participation was by the President, Vice-President and Secretary of the Bruneian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry who visited New Delhi in February 2019 to participate in the 4th ASEAN-India Expo and Summit 2019. Indian participation in Bruneian trade fairs has been sporadic. The latest was the participation of Indian businessmen from the Textile and Handicrafts sector in the Brunei International Trade Expo in December 2019. Virtual meetings between (i) the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) of India and the Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism (MPRT) of Brunei on April 27, 2021 and (ii) Federation of Indian Export Organization (FIEO) of India, and the local Chambers of Commerce/business entities and the Ministry of Finance and Economy (MoFE) of Brunei on May 25, 2021, to promote bilateral trade between India and Brunei were organized by the Mission. On August 26, Engineering Exports Promotion Council of India (EEPC) organised on virtual platform a country session with Brunei as part of its mega event “India-ASEAN Engineering Partnership Summit”. On October 8, 2021, Dr. Awang Haji Mohd Amin Liew bin Abdullah, Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office and Minister of Finance and Economy II participated in the ‘Indo-ASEAN Business Summit and Expo organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) vide a pre-recorded message. Bruneian officials also participated in events organised by ASEAN-India Centre (August 2021) and a FICCI-organised event ‘FICCI-Heal’ (October 2021). Activ8 BN Digital Solutions, an IT company in Brunei, participated in the Software EPC event held in October 2021. Capacity building Two ITEC slots are allotted to Brunei each year. Over the years, 37 Bruneian nationals have attended various ITEC courses in India and 26 in virtual format. In 2019, India’s capacity-building assistance to Brunei saw the participation of two candidates each in a three- month course on Design of Nano Satellite in ISRO from October-December and in the 13th Special Course for Diplomats from ASEAN countries in November. In October 2020, 14 officials of the Ministry of Development of Brunei attended a 3-day online-course on Housing-related topics conducted by the Housing Settlement Management Institute under the e-ITEC programme, the first such online course with Brunei. In 2021-22 and 2022-23, twelve Bruneian officials attended e-ITEC programmes.