ACC Secretary-General Met with Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism of Brunei

On 26 January 2016, ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) Secretary-General H.E. Mme. Yang Xiuping met with The Honorable Dato Ali Apong, Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism of Brunei Darussalam. Dr. Haji Abdul Manaf bin Haji Metussin, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism and Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in Brunei Mr. Fu Fengshan attended the meeting. 

Secretary-General Yang Xiuping congratulated Minister Ali for his recent assumption of the post and congratulated Brunei for winning a prize at the recently held 35th ASEAN Tourism Forum and the Meeting of the ASEAN Tourism Ministers. She briefed on ACC’s mandates and work, particularly its efforts to promote ASEAN-China tourism exchange and cooperation. She highlighted that ASEAN and China had seen ever closer tourism exchange, which has witnessed 53.4% growth in tourism arrivals from China to ASEAN and 54.1% growth in tourism arrivals from China to Brunei from January to November 2015. In August 2014, ACC organized a workshop of capacity building for tourism professionals in Bandar Seri Begawan. Experts and scholars were invited to give lectures on China’s tourism market, tourists’ demand, consumption habits and e-business of travel, which proved well received by the public. In 2015, ACC successfully held tourism promotion activities in the Philippines and Malaysia. In 2016, ACC was ready to strengthen communication and cooperation with the Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism of Brunei and elevate the Brunei-China tourism exchanges to a higher level.

Minister Ali warmly welcomed Secretary-General Yang Xiuping to visit Brunei and thanked ACC for its endeavours to promote tourism cooperation between ASEAN and China. He said that Brunei regarded China as an important cooperative partner and a market with huge potentials. Brunei and China had conducted sound exchanges and cooperation in primary resources, forestry, aquaculture and tourism. The Ministry had kicked off cooperation with Zhejiang Province of China with good results. He hoped that ACC would continue to encourage Chinese enterprises especially SMEs to invest in Brunei and explore new models of cooperation in relevant fields. The Brunei side would double its efforts to attract Chinese tourists including Muslim tourists to visit Brunei, boost Brunei-China exchanges and further cultivate the friendship between the two peoples.