THE final touches are being put to Brunei Darussalam's Trade and Commodity Pavilion at Nanning, Guangxi in China for today's opening of the 4th China-Asean Expo (Caexpo).

As the excitement built up among the Bruneian delegation, the Crown Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah, Senior Minister at Prime Minister's Office, met HE Zeng Peiyan, Vice Premier before their bilateral meeting at the Li Yuan Hotel.

Brunei is represented by a number of companies which are invited by the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources to participate in this annual expo to showcase their products.

Among these local companies include the Semaun Marine, Sabli Food Industry and Halaqah.

The Caexpo is dubbed by the local Chinese governor Lu Bing, as a bilateral cooperation platform between China and participating Asean member countries.

According to figures from www.aseansec.org, the success of the expos displayed the 3rd Caexpo recorded US$1.27 billion ($1.85 billion) worth of trade deals, a 10.2 per cent increase from the 2nd Caexpo.

Halaqah Executive Director, Pg Hj Hassan PMSLDSI Pg Hj Damit said his company is bringing to the expo processed foods such as corned beef, ostrich and lamb in the hope of penetrating the Muslim Chinese market.

The main focus is to market the Brunei's Halal Brand certification, he added.

"If we can get a small market share of even one per cent, that is good enough," said the executive director adding that the company also plans to enter the Middle East.

At the previous Brunei Halal Expo, the introduction of the sultanate's Halal Brand was to tap into the prospects in the halal market, with the global market estimated to be worth around US$150 billion a year.

The joint initiative between Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources, Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Ministry of Health was geared to increasing the number of halal foods due to the increasing emergence of products containing non-halal ingredients.

Pg Hj Hassan also hoped that the expo serves as an avenue to find business partners from the business matching sessions.

"Benefits for partners from this is vital," he said. For instance it could lead to the setting up of factories in Brunei which could generate employment for locals, he added.

He went on to say that aside from creating employment, locals benefit most from the transfer of knowledge and skills to better enhance the human resource in the country.

The company has participated in previous expos and its involvement is not only to disseminate information to raiseawareness but also to help fulfil the sultanate's diversification plan by capturing global markets, said the executive director.

The Brunei Times, Asri Razak. Sunday, October 28, 2007.