President Tran Dai Quang and his spouse left Hanoi on the morning of August 26 for a State-level visit to Brunei from August 26-28 at the invitation of King Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah.

Vietnam and Brunei established the diplomatic ties on February 29, 1992.

Two-way trade between Vietnam and Brunei rose three-fold from 24.2 million USD in 2010 to 73.7 million USD in 2015. Vietnam mostly exports seafood and rice to Brunei and imports chemicals.

As of June, Brunei invested in 205 projects worth over 2.18 billion USD, ranking 18 th out of 116 countries and territories investing in Vietnam and the fourth in ASEAN, behind Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

Cooperation in fisheries, real estate and education-training sees development potential while education ties are mainly via multilateral cooperation framework.

The President’s visit aims to continue pursuing the 12 th National Party Congress diplomatic policy of deepening external relations, partly by further reinforcing friendship and multifaceted cooperation with Brunei.

Accompanying the State leader are Chairman of the Presidential Office Dao Viet Trung, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung, Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh, Minister of Education and Training Tran Xuan Nha, Deputy Defence Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh, among others.

Following the Brunei visit, President Quang will fly to Singapore for a State-visit from August 28-30 at the invitation of President Tony Tan Keng Yam.

VNA