Bandar Seri Begawan (The Brunei Times/ANN) - If all goes well, Brunei will soon see itself making inroads into the regional dairy export sector with its investment via the Brunei Investment Agency in the Keningau Livestock Centre (KILC) project, launched on Saturday by Malaysia Prime Minister YAB Dato Laila Utama Dato' Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak.
The KILC project is only the first phase of a partnership between Annam Corporation, a BIA unit, and the Sabah Economic Development Corporation (SEDIA). The Heads of Terms (HoT) agreement was signed Saturday with BIA Chief Executive Officer Hjh Hartini Abdullah representing Annam Corporation and Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima Joseph Pairin Kitingan representing SEDIA as its Vice Chairman.Located in Sook, the livestock centre with its 2,000 cows, has the potential to produce six million litres of milk annually. A Bernama report states that the milk produced will be distributed throughout Malaysia and exported to its neighbours including Brunei.
This bodes well for the Sultanate's aim at expanding its domestic market to include its neighbours, particularly Sabah and Sarawak. The idea of a "Greater Domestic Market" was first reported in The Brunei Times in October 2010 when we published an article on Brunei's participation in the Sabah International Expo (SIE) held in Kota Kinabalu. Pg Hamrondiny Pg Hj Tajuddin from MIPR's Promotion and Facilitation Division, said that Sabah and Sarawak can be considered to be a part of Brunei's "Greater Domestic Market" as the two Malaysian states are close neighbours and share similar culture and taste. If more entrepreneurs recognise the opportunity this idea brings, then there is no reason to lament about Brunei's small market as they can include Sabah and Sarawak's combined population of 5.6 million. We hope that the success of the KILC partnership will spur more joint investments to benefit the people of this region.
