Bangladesh-Brunei Darussalam Bilateral Relations

Brunei proclaimed independence in 1984. Bangladesh immediately gave recognition to Brunei and opened a resident diplomatic mission in 1985. The Mission was closed down temporarily in 1988 and was re-opened on 10 December 1997 during the first term of office of the Hon’ble Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Bangladesh maintains excellent diplomatic relations with Brunei Darussalam. During the current term of office as the Head of the Government, the Hon’ble Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has taken special initiatives to strengthen the bilateral relations with Brunei Darussalam.

Given the good understanding existing at the highest political level, bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Brunei could be further expanded and deepened in a number of areas including trade, culture, defence, education, manpower and investment etc. The Brunei economy is dependent on import of consumer and manufactured goods. Its import amounts to B$ 3.3billion while its export (mainly oil and gas) is over B$11.5 billion. The population is only 4,22,000 including the expatriate population of 1,00,000.

This Mission has been making efforts to increase the bilateral trade volume to a significant level. To that end, this Mission has taken initiatives to explore the possibilities of introducing Bangladeshi garments, pharmaceutical products, dry food, agro-products, consumer items like sugar, rice etc. into Brunei market over the past few years. A good number of Bangladeshi traders are now involved in marketing of those products in the local shops. Bruneians have shown interest in our products that include pulses, dry food, T-shirts etc.