Three pacts signed with Brunei during FMJR visit

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. on Tuesday announced the signing of three new bilateral agreements with Brunei, including a tourism-related deal to help the country attract more Bruneian tourists.

In his departure speech at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City, the chief executive said the Philippine- Brunei Darussalam Memorandum of Understanding ( MOU) on Tourism Cooperation will help boost tourist arrivals and tourist receipts.

“Through this MOU, we hope to entice and attract Bruneian tourists to explore the Philippines. [ With] Brunei, despite having a relatively small population, it is the quality of tourists and not the quantity that counts,” Marcos said.

The Department of Tourism ( DOT) refers to “quality tourists” as those who are big spenders when they travel.

In its latest visitor arrival data, DOT said 2,318 tourists from Brunei visited the country from January to April.

Last year, 6,639 tourists arrived in the Philippines from the Southeast Asian country from January to December.

The new tourism MOU will also support Islamic tourism and the promotion of Muslim friendly destinations.

Maritime and food cooperation

ALSO signed was an MOU, which updated the country’s 2001 pact with Brunei for the Mutual Recognition of Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) certificates of seafarers.

It allows both countries to recognize the seafarers- related certificates issued by the focal government agencies.

The third MOU which allows the Philippines and Brunei to cooperate on wide- ranging areas including pollution, skills training, research and information sharing, was also signed.

Marcos stressed the importance of Manila’s maintaining defense cooperation with Bandar Seri Begawan due to the close proximity of both countries.

Aside from the three MOUS, a Letter of Intent ( LOI) was also signed for the renewal of another MOU on food security and agricultural cooperation.

The LOI underscores the interest of the Philippines and Brunei to collaborate on food security and sustainable agriculture.

More agreements

DURING his meeting with Brunei’s Sultan, Haji Hassanal Bolkiah, the President said he hopes there will be more PhilippineBrunei agreements.

“We hope to expand the partnerships that we have begun and we feel that there is much potential that we can examine,” Marcos told the Sultan. The Sultan said he hopes the future partnership will also cover more economic matters as well as people- to- people exchanges.

“I’m looking forward to further enhancing our friendship in areas of future interest, which I believe will greatly benefit our countries and people,” the Sultan said. The three MOUS and the LOI were signed after Marcos arrived in Brunei on Tuesday morning to start his two-day state visit. He will leave Brunei on May 29 to fly to Singapore. He will deliver the keynote address for this year’s Shangri- La Dialogue to be held in Singapore on Friday.