BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: Sabah looks forward to enhanced bilateral relationswithBrunei Darussalam now that borders on both sides have reopened.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Haji Hajiji Haji Noor said he is optimisticcooperation in various fields especially trade will grow seeing that Sabah’s tradewithBrunei grew more than four folds from RM311.7 million in 2017 to RM1.48billioninAugust 2022.
Sabah always values the relations with Brunei said the Chief Minister duringanaudience with the Ruler of Brunei Darussalam, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiahat IstanaNurul Iman here, thursday.
Hajiji also shared with Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah the achievements of the GabunganRakyat Sabah – Barisan Nasional (GRS-BN) State Government’s Hala TujuSabahMaju Jaya (SMJ) development roadmap.
Since the GRS-BN State Government took over the reins of administration twoyearsago, Sabah has recorded RM5.449 billion in revenue in 2021, achieved RM389millionin domestic investments from January to June 2022 and RM9.9 billion in ForeignDirect Investments (FDI) from January to September this year.
Hajiji said Sabah also welcomed visitors from Brunei, which has grown steadilyafterthe reopening of borders with the first Royal Brunei Airlines flight intotheKotaKinabalu International Airport on May 6 this year.
Following border reopening, Bruneians also travelled by road to visit SabahbeginningAug 1 this year.
A total of 78,605 Bruneians visited Sabah in 2019 but the numbers plunged to5,494in2020 following border shutdowns.
Hajiji also extended an invitation to the Sultan for a reciprocal visit to Sabah.
Making his first visit to Brunei Darussalam since his appointment as Chief Minister, Hajiji was accompanied by State Assembly Speaker Datuk Haji KadzimYahya, Special Tasks Minister Datuk Arifin Arif and State Secretary Datuk Seri Panglima Sr Haji SafarUntong.
