The trade volume between Brunei Darussalam and Taiwan was only US$70 million last year while other countries in the region have reached in the figures of billions.
With the still under-developed trade volume, there is still huge room for Brunei and Taiwan to work together to build stronger bilateral trade relationship.
To provide more understanding and interest on Taiwan products and services, the first and largest trade mission from Taiwan yesterday hosted a business session at the Rizqun International Hotel, which was attended by local entrepreneurs.
The trade mission comprising 31 Taiwanese companies with 16 food and beverage manufacturers is looking to forge cooperation and increase export to the local market.
Jessie Tseng, the Director of Taiwan Trade Centre from Kuala Lumpur in an interview said,
"Our trade volume is still considered small and there are still many opportunities to further increase the trade volume of both countries. I personally feel that Brunei has a vast potential to further develop and this time, we have brought a large trade mission to explore cooperation in Brunei's market."
Taiwanese companies have been aggressively exploring countries in the Asean region. However, many companies do not know much about Brunei.
"We hope that through this trade mission, the Taiwanese companies will gain an in-depth knowledge on the Brunei market and will build on the successful formula to enter the potential areas," she said.
Meanwhile, Albert Huang, the representative of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Brunei Darussalam, in his remarks at the trade mission session said that Taiwan has been trying very hard to participate in global regional economic integration and to step up to sign free trade agreements with trade partners in recent years.
"Two months ago, Taiwan and New Zealand signed an economic cooperation agreement. Following the signing of the economic cooperation framework with China three years ago, Taiwan can smoothly sign an ECA with a country without diplomatic relations such as New Zealand. And we have completed substantive negotiations with Singapore in terms of economic partnership agreement as well as engage in a feasibility study of signing similar agreements with India and Indonesia," he said.
As for Asean and Taiwan, he said that the latter's total trade amount with Asean countries reached US$88.1 billion in 2012 and among them is Singapore that recorded over US$28 billion while Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia reached over US$10 billion.
As for the trade between Brunei and Taiwan, it was only about US$70 million. Therefore the trade between Taiwan and Brunei has huge space for development.
Meanwhile, when asked about the Halal standard of the Taiwan products, Lien Kon Sien, the Chairman of Taiwan Business Association in Brunei Darussalam, commented that all products that are represented in today's trade mission have obtained Taiwan as well as Malaysia's Halal certification.
"If the Taiwanese companies can forge cooperation with local businesses, I am confident that they can also obtain Brunei's Halal certificate," he said.
However, he also noted that Taiwanese products come with mostly packages in the Mandarin language which need to be altered to English or Malay languages to suit the local market.
SOURCE:
COURTESY OF BORNEO BULLETIN
