WELLINGTON: Brunei’s second minister of foreign affairs and trade, Pehin Lim Jock Seng and energy and industry minister Pehin Yasmin Umar are in New Zealand. Trade Minister Todd McClay says he’ll meet his counterpart today and host the delegation in his Rotorua electorate this weekend.
Earlier Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully signalled Brunei’s plans to diversify its economy and how New Zealand could help was a subject for discussion as well as regional economic and political issues. Two-way trade is worth $NZ506 million and is dominated by oil imports. Butter makes up about 30 per cent of New Zealand exports to Brunei.
New Zealand has a friendly relationship with the tiny sultanate of Brunei, sharing links in education, trade and defence, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade says. A strong defence relationship is mainly based around training. The countries take part in joint military training exercises, and New Zealand provides training assistance under the Mutual Assistance Programme, which also gives our troops opportunities to train in Brunei’s jungle.
