India eyes more oil from Brunei

India's oil purchase plan

INDIA, one of the fastest growing economies in the world, is planning to increase its crude oil imports from Brunei.

In an interview with The Brunei Times yesterday, High Commissioner of India to Brunei Darussalam LD Ralte said the plan was based on India's expectation to further expand its trade and economic activities with the Sultanate.

No figures were available as of yesterday, but India has been buying only one million tonnes of Brunei crude oil.

Annually, India imports 160 million tonnes of crude oil from various countries, mostly from the Middle East.

"If Brunei has spare capacity (of crude oil), we can always buy more," the new envoy to Brunei said.

He added that India would also look into the opportunity to set a long-term contract on importing crude oil from Brunei.

"That's the target, it is our hope. We have already built very good people-to-people relations and we need to improve our relations by increasing trade and economic activities with Brunei."

The envoy said that there was still a lot of room for both nations to enhance their cooperation in trade areas, such as textiles, jewellery, fruits and food packaging.

The visit by His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam to India in 2008 had opened the path to future bilateral cooperation in sectors, such as agriculture and information and communications technology (ICT).

There are currently about 150 local ICT companies and 10 IT training centres in the Sultanate, and Brunei has allocated about $500-$600 million for over 200 IT projects in the country.

Over the past two decades, India has experienced rapid development in its ICT sector. The country's software exports currently stand at about US$47 billion (about $66.25b), or 17 per cent of the country's total exports, up from US$1 million in 1991.

The two nations established diplomatic relations on May 10, 1984.

The envoy presented his credentials before His Majesty at Istana Nurul Iman last Tuesday and on the same day paid a visit to His Royal Highness Prince Mohamed Bolkiah, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade at Balai Penghadapan Bukit Kayangan.

The envoy's last posting prior to Brunei was Hong Kong. He joined India's Ministry of External Affairs in 1983 and has been assigned to different posts such as in Beijing, Shanghai, Washington DC and Nairobi. Ralte's predecessor was Riewad V Warjri.