James Kon
Brunei Darussalam and Singapore discussed proposed areas of collaboration in agriculture and fisheries sectors, sharing of information on certification to aquaculture farms and collaboration in other potential areas of research and development during the second meeting of the Joint Working Group (JWG) for agri-food collaboration between the two countries at Setia Pahlawan Hall, the Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism (MPRT) yesterday.
Permanent Secretary at the MPRT Hajah Tutiaty binti Haji Abdul Wahab co-chaired the meeting with Permanent Secretary (Development) at the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) of Singapore Lee Chuan Teck.
According to the MPRT, the JWG is a platform for increased cooperation between Brunei and Singapore in areas of investment facilitation between the two countries in the agriculture and fisheries sectors; collaboration on research and development for increased output and productivity; provide training to develop human resource capacity in the government and private sectors; sharing of knowledge and standards, conformance and quality assurance; and to develop enterprise competencies to enhance the capabilities of agriculture and fisheries sector operators.
Deputy permanent secretary and senior officers at the MPRT, the Department of Agriculture and Agrifood and the Fisheries Department as well as representatives from the MTI, Enterprise Singapore and Singapore Food Agency were also present.
Prior to the meeting, a working visit was conducted to several fisheries companies operating in aquaculture and processing activities, and potential sites for investment on March 30.
In addition, a business matching session was held involving business representatives from Singapore and fisheries entrepreneurs, with the objective of facilitating market access for local products to be exported to Singapore, as well as other opportunities for increased growth and networking, especially in identifying market requirements from Singapore.
The export value for fisheries product in 2021 was some BND6.46 million which comprised 14 per cent of total fisheries export figure last year.
