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Brunei aims to join world’s richest nations

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: Tiny Brunei, which already boasts one of the highest per capita incomes in Asia, wants to vault into the world’s top 10, according to a long-range government development plan.

The oil-rich nation on the weekend unveiled its “Wawasan Brunei 2035” plan which urged better implementation of development initiatives in order to accelerate economic growth.

It identified tourism as a potential revenue generator, called for improvements in transport and communications infrastructure, and greater investment in research and development, according to an executive summary of the “Brunei Darussalam Long-Term Development Plan”.

Brunei is aiming for a “dynamic and sustainable economy with income per capita within the top 10 in the world,” the summary said.

The government also wants Brunei to have a quality of life that is among the world’s top 10, it said. Observers say the government has been debating how to secure its economic future amid dwindling oil and gas resources.

Brunei is the third-largest oil producer in Southeast Asia after Indonesia and Malaysia, and the world’s fourth-largest producer of liquefied natural gas, according to the Brunei Yearbook 2007, which says reserves are expected to last for at least two more decades based on current production rates.

The government’s long-range plan said economic progress has been inconsistent. It said a delay in implementing development projects has contributed to lower economic growth, limiting effectiveness of the government’s fiscal stimulus strategy.

One of the key challenges to accelerate economic growth rates during the 2007-2012 six-year plan “is therefore to enhance the national capacity to carry out development initiatives,” the government’s report said. afp

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