THE total investment coming into Brunei from ASEAN countries last year totalled US$141 million ($186 million), said the permanent secretary for trade yesterday.

This accounted for a quarter of total global foreign direct investments (FDIs) into Brunei in 2014, according to Dato Paduka Lim Jock Hoi, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT).

He credited the implementation of the ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement (ACIA) which has helped in boosting FDI inflows to ASEAN.

"Ever since the Agreement entered into force in 2012, it has greatly enhanced the flow of foreign direct investments within and into ASEAN, partly through an increasingly positive investor sentiment," he said at yesterday's forum on ACIA.

Dato Lim said FDI inflows to ASEAN surpassed US$117 billion in 2013. Provisional estimates for 2014 showed a further increase to US$136 billion.

Intra-ASEAN FDIs also picked up momentum from US$19 billion in 2013 to US$23 billion last year. This remains a major source of invesment among ASEAN counterparts.

"For Brunei Darussalam alone, the investment that we received from other ASEAN countries last year amounted to US$141 million, accounting for a quarter of our total global FDI received," he said.

Dato Lim said ASEAN believes the ACIA will promote the region as an important investment destination.

He added Brunei's participation in ASEAN is the cornerstone of its foreign policy and is a core element in its foreign and trade engagement with international partners.

He said this year is an important milestone for the regional bloc as it works towards the formal establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).

The AEC, he said, is characterised by four pillars which include a single market and production base, a highly competitive economic region, a region of equitable economic development and a region that is fully integrated into the global economy.

"Achieving free flow of investments within ASEAN has long been one of our objectives, and forms part of the first pillar of the AEC, the single market and production base," he said.

The forum is organised by the ASEAN Secretariat and supported by the ASEAN-Australia Development Cooperation Program, according to a statement issued by MoFAT. The event aims to highlight the role of ACIA in complementing efforts to boost FDIs in Brunei. The ACIA can also help realise the AEC which will promote ASEAN as a single investment destination.

By The Brunei Times

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