ACC Secretary-General Met with Ambassador-at-Large of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Brunei

On 27 January 2016, ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) Secretary-General H.E. Mme. Yang Xiuping met with Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Brunei Her Royal Highness Princess Hajah Masna. Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry Hajah Tutiaty binti Haji Abdul Wahab and Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in Brunei Fu Fengshan attended the meeting.

Secretary-General Yang Xiuping expressed thanks to the Brunei royal family and Her Royal Highness Princess Hajah Masna for their long-time dedication to developing Brunei-China and ASEAN-China relations, and commended the remarkable contributions made by Her Royal Highness Princess Hajah Masna to the issues of women, children and social welfare. She said that 2016 marked the 25th anniversary of Brunei-China diplomatic relations and ASEAN-China dialogue relations, as well as the ASEAN-China Year of Educational Exchange. ACC would continue to enhance communication with the Brunei side and join hands to promote the further development of Brunei-China strategic cooperative relationship and ASEAN-China relations. Secretary-General Yang briefed on ACC’s work in trade, investment, education, culture, tourism, information and public relations, and hoped that Brunei could render its continued support to ACC.

Her Royal Highness Princess Hajah Masna welcomed Secretary-General Yang to visit Brunei, and commended the good work done by ACC. Her Royal Highness highlighted that Brunei and China enjoyed close ties and friendship between the two countries which dated back to ancient time. Brunei side attached great importance to its relations with China, and stood ready to work together with China to host a variety of activities in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations. She noted that youth represented the future. The exchanges and cooperation between the young people of the two countries would facilitate deepened and sustained growth of bilateral relations.

Her Royal Highness Princess Hajah Masna said Brunei was one of the members of the East ASEAN Growth Area (EAGA, including Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines). The cooperation priorities of EAGA included trade, investment, connectivity, tourism, agriculture and environment. The objective of EAGA was to accelerate economic development of the geographically distant and less developed areas and narrow development gap. Brunei hoped to enhance contact with ACC and make joint efforts to fully play the positive role of EAGA.