BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: The Republic of Korea has successfully renewed a contract for the importation of gas from Brunei Darussalam as the Sultanate has increased the volume of export from 700,000 to one million tonnes, Borneo Bulletin reported.
This was revealed by Mr Jo Sung Wook, the outgoing counselor of the Korean Embassy in Brunei during a luncheon reception with the local media representatives yesterday afternoon.
Mr Jo Sung Wook, who will be leaving Brunei Darussalam after his two-year tenure and is scheduled to be posted in Malaysia, also highlighted the improved bilateral relationship between Brunei and Korea over the past few years.
Describing the bilateral ties, he said, “The Republic of Korea is the second biggest trading partner for Brunei and the trade volume between both countries has increased to a high of $2.5 billion.
“We have renewed our contract for gas with Brunei and the new contract sees that Brunei will increase the volume of gas export from 700,000 to one million tonnes.”
In addition to the trade, he also highlighted that an increasing number of Korean companies are coming to Brunei to work on infrastructure projects like building bridges and others.
On the ICT front, he said, “Korea has cooperated with various government agencies in Brunei as well as UBD on ICT, therefore has played a part in helping Brunei rank 54th out of 142 countries on Global Information Technology Report’s Networked Readiness Index in 2011.”
He added, “We had also launched the first cyber class in Rimba II Secondary School last year.
Meanwhile, last October, the embassy organised the Asean-Korea Biodiversity Seminar whereby experts from Korea and Asean highlighted the importance ofbiodiversityconservation and sustainable development. “We hope to further cooperate and work with Brunei Darussalam who is one of the leading nations in conservation efforts in the region,” he added.
While speaking on Brunei as the Chair of Asean this year, he hoped that Brunei would take a firm and clear stand on the security issues on North Korea’s recent nuclear test which the Korean government and the international community have condemned.
When asked what will he miss about Brunei the most, Mr Jo Sung Wook, who first came to Brunei on February 10, 2011, said, “The beautiful sunset. I will miss the sunset especially looking from The Empire Hotel.”