Brunei and China Target 3 Industrial Parks in Guangxi Province

Brunei and China are in talks to establish 3 industrial parks in southern Guangxi Province, planning to promote trade and investment in the Brunei-Guangxi Economic Corridor. This corridor will become a duty-free direct-sales link, with the aim of building a bioinnovation joint venture worth more than 500 million.

Yang Jian of the Chinese Embassy said that one industrial park will be used to produce Halal food, another to produce traditional Chinese herbal medicine, and the third for wetland cultivation, fish farms and oyster farms. 'We plan to jointly process and export these products... we are also discussing and developing some special projects,' she said. 'The Chinese and Bruneian sides will steadily turn the Brunei-Guangxi Economic Corridor into reality. Agricultural cooperation, Halal food processing, biological agents, shipping, tourism and other fields, as well as cultural and people-to-people exchanges, will be further consolidated,' she added.

In an earlier report, the Minister of Industry and Primary Resources, Yang Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Utama Dato Seri Setia Hj Yahya Begawan Mudim Dato Paduka Hj Bakar (Pic), mentioned that the bilateral cooperative enterprise will focus on the development of Brunei's Halal food industry. He explained that 'with nearly zero tariffs impacting China and ASEAN, Brunei has always acted as an intermediary, exporting products from South America and Europe to China.' In Brunei Times last September, the minister said, 'Brunei can become a gateway for the Chinese market to reach these countries.' Some other countries have also seen the opportunity to export Halal-certified food to the Chinese market through Brunei's strict Halal certification process. 'We want to develop the Halal industry and bioinnovation business in Brunei and China. We have already established a bioinnovation corridor (in Brunei), and at the same time (in Guangxi) we also want to develop (food production),' he said.

In 2014, a Bioinnovation Corridor (BIC) was established in the Islamic territory - a 500-hectare Halal-themed industrial park partly invested in by Chinese. When asked how much initial investment is needed to create the economic corridor, the minister said it would take more than 500 million to make Brunei a key player in the Halal food processing industry. 'We will seek investment in China and Brunei, because the amount of capital is huge and there won't be too many Bruneian investors,' the minister said. 'We are looking at investment mechanisms, such as an investment consortium or China-ASEAN infrastructure investment in agriculture, terminals, freight and food processing.'