The 5th China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) to be held in Nanning, China from 22 - 25 October, will help forge ties of cooperation between China and Brunei, as the latter hopes to gain more benefits for its fishing and agriculture industries from China. 

The event will showcase a pavilion of an array of agricultural technologies and equipment, Brunei Online reports.

With negotiations underway for a China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA), CAEXPO will help consolidate mutual interest in harvesting a great potential for agricultural and aquaculture cooperation between Brunei and China. Brunei currently enjoys a bilateral cooperative relationship with Guangxi of China - one of the Asian country's major aquaculture bases and a player in the Pan Beibu Gulf Economic Cooperation Programme - and has been a beneficiary of the Chinese sector's experience and advanced technological know-how.

Visits by a Chinese Deputy Minister of Agriculture in 2007 and a Guangxi delegation in April 2008 enhanced

the bilateral cooperation in agriculture and fisheries in this regard.

At present, the Brunei fisheres sector is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the country. A total of 30 companies in Brunei have invested in aquaculture, that is, more than 50 fish and prawn ponds farming tiger shrimp, blue shrimp and grouper, statistics reveal.  

A percentage of these products are exported to the US, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore.

Lately, in order to cope with growing demand for shrimp on the global market, the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources has directed additional foreign investment and technology into the sector so as to boost output. 

Brunei's Tutong district has already set aside 500 hectares of land for marine aquaculture to this end.