PEACE-SOLIDARITY-FRIENDSHIP
As one of the members of the Association of Southest Asian Nations (ASEAN), Brunei Darussalam is the only sovereign country located entirely on the northern island of Borneo, with Malaysia and Indonesia separating the rest of the island. The full name of Brunei is Negara Brunei Darussalam. In Malay, it means “peaceful abode”. The population of Brunei is just over 440 thousand, with Malays making up for 67%, Chinese taking 15%, and the rest being indigenous and other ethnic groups.
As one of the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Brunei Darussalam is the only sovereign country located entirely on the northern island of Borneo, with Malaysia and Indonesia separating the rest of the island. The full name of Brunei is Negara Brunei Darussalam. In Malay, it means “peaceful abode”. The population of Brunei is just over 440 thousand, with Malays making up for 67%, Chinese taking 15%, and the rest being indigenous and other ethnic groups.
A country of petroleum and social security
If put on scale with two neighboring countries, Malaysia and Indonesia, the area of Brunei is quite small, only about 6,000 square kilometers, but fortunately almost all of its oil reserves are concentrated on the territory under its sovereignty. Since the official discovery of oil fields in 1929, the oil and gas industry here has played major roles in the economic balance of Brunei, contributing more than 90% of its GDP. This source of oil has brought prosperity and affluence and put this country in the 4th top 25 richest nations in the world. When referring to Brunei, people immediately think of King Hassanal Bolkiah, who was known for owning a huge fortune and standing in the ranks of the world’s royal billionaires.
The people of Brunei receive excellent social security, should families who cannot afford to own a house, and are in need for housing, they will need to register with the Government. Once they are approved, they only need to pay a few Brunei dollars to the State and will be called to receive a house few years later, after the Government has completed the construction of residential areas, similar to social housing in Vietnam. Moreover, students in Brunei can go to school for free and boys and girls are to study in separate schools. If one graduates from high school and wish to study at a university abroad, the State will provide them with a scholarship for abroad study. When back home, they will have to work for the State according to the number of years they spend studying abroad. Additionally, the treatment services in Brunei are free from charges thanks to the patronage of His Majesty, therefore people must only pay a small amount (usually from 1 to 2 Brunei dollars).
Cooperation and friendship between Vietnam and Brunei
As members of ASEAN, Vietnam and Brunei have together participated in it actively and proactively, making many important contributions to all areas of ASEAN cooperation as well as in determining the future development, direction of cooperation and major decisions of ASEAN. Thereby, the two sides always strive to contribute to strengthening solidarity, enhancing the role and position of ASEAN in the region and in the international arena, maintaining peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region.
On February 29th 1992, Vietnam and Brunei officially established diplomatic relations. Although different in size of the country, population, and in culture, Vietnam and Brunei often hold interchangable views regarding international and regional issues. This is a favorable premise to push the two countries’ further cooperation. In terms of political relations, the two sides regularly exchange high-level visits and contacts.
Within the framework of ASEAN and the multilateral mechanism, Brunei supported Vietnam in international forums such as the UNESCO Executive Council 2015-2019, the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) from 2016 to 2018 and being a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council in 2020-2021.
On the occasion of the State visit to Vietnam by the Sultan of Brunei in March 2019, the two countries established a comprehensive partnership, found a Joint Committee on bilateral cooperation and together developed an action plan to implement the Comprehensive Partnership, jointly making efforts to further promote economic, trade and investment cooperation, heading to the goal of two-way turnover to reach 500 million USD by 2025 as agreed between the leaders of the two countries.
In the most recent phone conversation between Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son and Brunei’s (second) Minister of Foreign Affairs Dato Erywan Pehin Yusof, both party expressed their satisfaction at the outstanding developments of the two countries’ relations over time, especially the trading between the two countries continued to soar despite the pandemic. The two Ministers agreed to soon develop an action plan to implement the Comprehensive Partnership in the next 5 years, to regularly and effectively maintain the mechanism of the Joint Committee on Bilateral Cooperation, to establish a political consultation mechanism and sign cooperation agreements between the two foreign ministries as well as to promote trade-investment cooperation. We truly believe that with the growing friendship and cooperation between the two countries, and mutual support at ASEAN and international forums, the year 2022 will be a stepping stone to mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of Vietnam-Brunei diplomatic relations.
Bao Anh