BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Feb 27 — Malaysia has offered to share with Brunei Darussalam its expertise and experience in disaster management.
Visiting Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said this would be executed through the collaboration of the Malaysian National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) and the Brunei Darussalam National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC).
She said one expertise that Nadma could offer was the certification of the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group of which Malaysia was a member.
“We can offer expertise and experience and Brunei Darussalam can offer us infrastructure and facilities for training. Brunei Darussalam has sufficient equipment for disaster management training,” she told Malaysian journalists at the conclusion of her two-day official visit to Brunei Darussalam.
Dr Wan Azizah returned to Kuala Lumpur this evening.
On the second day of her visit Wednesday, Dr Wan Azizah visited the NDMC and held discussions on the disaster management system with Brunei Darussalam Home Affairs Minister Pehin Datuk Seri Dr Awang Abu Bakar Apong.
Dr Wan Azizah also had an audience with Brunei Darussalam Crown Prince and Senior Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Pengiran Muda Al-Muhtadee Billah.
She said their discussion centred on the practical ways to strengthen bilateral relations.
She said she was informed at the meeting that Brunei Darussalam was building a 30-km bridge linking the Brunei-Muara and Temburong districts.
“I am sure the bridge, which is expected to be opened early next year, will provide a positive spillover effect particularly to Lawas, Sarawak,” she said.
She said the discussions also covered efforts to foster cooperation in the socio-economic sector, and added that there was a broad scope for this because the two countries had similar cultural and social values.
Referring to the issue of the Rohingya, Dr Wan Azizah said the Crown Prince stated that Brunei Darussalam was open to channelling aid to the displaced people of Myanmar through the field hospital at the Cox’s Bazaar refugee camp in Bangladesh.
She said Brunei Darussalam had provided aid by financing water pumps for the use of the hospital.
Dr Wan Azizah concluded her visit to Brunei Darussalam with a visit to the Pusat Bahagia Daerah Muara, a training institution for children with special needs.
She said her visit to Brunei Darussalam had achieved the objective to strengthen cooperation and enhance understanding between the two countries.
The visit to Brunei Darussalam was one of the series of her visits to the Asean countries following her appointment as the deputy prime minister in May last year. — Bernama
