James Kon
Minister of Foreign Affairs II Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Erywan bin Pehin Datu Pekerma Jaya Haji Mohd Yusof, and United Kingdom’s Minister for the Indo-Pacific Anne-Marie Trevelyan during the recent second UK-Brunei Darussalam Strategic Dialogue commended the strength of the UK-Brunei Darussalam relationship. They also noted developments over the last year, including the first UK-Brunei Climate Change Dialogue, the first UK-Brunei Maritime Dialogue and the recent meeting of the Joint Defence Committee.
The second UK-Brunei Darussalam Strategic Dialogue in Bandar Seri Begawan covered the full range of bilateral cooperation, in areas including defence and security, education, trade and investment, judicial cooperation and climate change.
During the strategic dialogue, Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Erywan noted the progress made since the establishment of the Strategic Dialogue. He said there is potential for Brunei Darussalam and the UK to explore other areas and deepen cooperation to achieve mutually beneficial goals.
He also stated the UK-Brunei partnership and the work together in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) would open up a new frontier of opportunities.
Minister Trevelyan thanked Brunei Darussalam for the warm welcome and underlined the importance of the strong UK-Brunei relationship in the UK’s overall engagement with ASEAN and the Indo-Pacific.
Trevelyan said, “The UK and Brunei Darussalam’s relationship is rooted in our long-standing and deep cultural and historic ties; our shared system of law; our partnerships in areas such as education, defence and finance; and, of course, our people-to-people ties, including the close ties between our royal families.”
She agreed that there were many areas on which the UK and Brunei Darussalam could cooperate including tackling climate change and sharing expertise, within ASEAN and wider.
Also discussed were the international and humanitarian situations in Russia/Ukraine, Myanmar and Afghanistan.
Trevelyan was accompanied by British High Commissioner to Brunei Darussalam John Virgoe and British Defence Advisor to Brunei Darussalam Group Captain Graeme Davis, as well as officials from the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
Attending the Dialogue from the Bruneian government were senior officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Virgoe said, “We are grateful to Brunei for hosting the Second Strategic Dialogue, and welcome the wide-ranging discussion. We have some exciting plans for the next year. We look forward to hosting the Third Strategic Dialogue in the UK in 2024, marking the 40th anniversary of UK-Brunei diplomatic relations.”
The Strategic Dialogue was acknowledged by His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam and UK’s then-prime minister Boris Johnson, at a meeting at Number 10 Downing Street on December 3, 2021.
The First Strategic Dialogue took place at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in London on December 9, 2021.
