Brunei open to reviving Islamic bank in Phl

BRUNEI DARUSSALAM (via PLDT/Smart) – A Brunei company is open to reviving a dormant Islamic bank in the Philippines.

Secretary Herminio Coloma of the Presidential Communications Operations Office said here yesterday that officials of QAF Brunei Sdn Bhd Co. Ltd. are receptive to the idea of reviving the Al Amanah Islamic Bank that was under the Development Bank of the Philippines.

“We’re asking the support of Brunei in exploring the possible revival of Amanah bank and the response of his royal highness, the prince, is that this could be a vehicle in promoting the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines-East Asian Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) investment,” he said.

Among the highlights of the discussions between President Aquino and Prince Abdul Qawi is the cooperation in the promotion of Islamic banking within BIMP-EAGA initiative.

Aquino met the head of QAF Brunei, Prince Qawi, first cousin of the crown prince.

He said the firm is also open to cooperating on halal food certification, aqua culture business, and property development.

“We also want to go significantly into halal food processing but to be able to achieve a breakthrough, we need to tool up and become capable in certification so there will be quality assurance of the products,” Aquino said.

Another proposal raised by the Philippines is aqua culture.

“We have sea urchin development in Bolinao, Pangasinan as well as milkfish development. They (QAF) are also interested in pursuing this,” he said.

Coloma told Manila-based reporters that the President’s meetings with business groups was fruitful, and the Mashhor Group of Companies of Brunei wants to develop the energy infrastructure in the country.

He said the administration is determined to pursue the use of compressed natural gas (CNG) for public transportation because it has available natural gas supply from the Malampaya fields in Palawan.

“We want to develop distribution facilities but this will require massive resources, considering the number of public transport that need to be prepared for conversion to CNG use,” he said, noting that this is the reason why the President approached Mashhor for possible collaboration.

However, Coloma said all the meetings are just initial discussions between the Philippines and Mashhor.

“Although not yet of the scale that we would like to see, this is the reason why this visit is aimed at bringing to the next level the quantum of trade and investment between the two countries,” he said.

Earlier, the President said that energy development in the Philippines is the brightest prospect of the visit.

He said his government wants Brunei to assist in laying the groundwork for a wide use of CNG for public transport since Brunei has been in the business for a long time.