VZCZCXRO2758
PP RUEHCHI RUEHFK RUEHHM RUEHKSO RUEHPB
DE RUEHBD #0573/01 3120612
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 080612Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3610
INFO RUEHZU/ASIAN PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN 000573 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/MTS, EAP/RSP AND EAP/EP 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/07/2016 
TAGS: ECON PARM PTER TSPL BX
SUBJECT: BRUNEI WANTS FREE TRADE AT TOP OF APEC AGENDA 
 
REF: A. SECSTATE 177258 
     ¶B. BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN 572 
 
Classified By: DCM Justin Friedman, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1. (C) Brunei's top priority for the upcoming APEC Leaders 
meeting and beyond is to encourage movement on regional free 
trade agreements (see also ref B).  The GoB'sapproach to 
multilateral fora will remain to listen to others and seek 
consensus.  The GoB wants to advance APEC's capacity-building 
agenda for trade and development.  Brunei also strongly 
supports APEC's security agenda and generally supports the 
early draft of the Leaders' Statement on WMD.  Brunei does 
not see the need to move quickly on APEC structural reforms. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
YES TO FREE TRADE -- AND BRUNEI HAS A MODEL 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) DCM delivered ref A points to Hakashah Samad, 
Special Duties Officer at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and 
Trade (MOFAT).  Samad is the GoB's go-to person on APEC, 
having been focused on these issues since 2002.  Before DCM 
started, Samad accurately predicted U.S. views on over half 
our talking points. 
 
¶3. (C) Samad said that the GoB approach to the upcoming 
Leaders' Meeting would be to not/not take the lead, but to 
listen to others' views and join in on consensus issues. 
That said, Brunei strongly supported APEC discussion on an 
APEC-wide free trade agreement.  Separately, MOFAT Permanent 
Secretary Lim Jock Hoi told the Ambassador that the GoB was 
 
SIPDIS 
looking to the U.S. to send a strong signal in support of 
regional free trade at APEC (ref B). Samad said that the GoB 
saw the Trans Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership 
Agreement (hereafter, P-4) with Singapore, Chile, and New 
Zealand as an excellent template for an FTAAP.  He said that 
the GoB saw the non-prescriptive, non-binding design as a 
major advantage of the P-4 model.  Canada, Hong Kong, and 
Peru had all expressed interest in the P-4, and Samad was 
hopeful that Peru would soon be ready to announce its 
interest in joining.  Samad acknowledged that the two 
toughest chapters - investment and services - were not yet 
complete.  He noted that the P-4 will hold a mini-summit at 
the APEC Leaders meeting and hoped this would generate the 
momentum needed to complete the agreement in the next twelve 
months. 
 
¶4. (C) On the model chapters of the FTAAP under discussion, 
Samad said the GoB had no objections to the U.S. draft on 
rules of origin.  He cautioned that the GoB had limited 
capacity to review chapters and may not be able to move as 
quickly on specific issues, noting government procurement 
rules in particular. 
 
Yes to Development 
------------------ 
 
¶5. (C) Samad said that Brunei believed that APEC had an 
important role in fostering regional development through 
capacity building.  APEC supported efforts to promote 
cultural understanding and interfaith dialog need to contine 
hand-in-hand with development.  This was needed to help 
ensure broader support for the trade liberalization goals 
agreed to in Bogor.  Brunei endorsed the Hanoi Action Plan to 
reach Bogor goals as laid out in the Pusan road map.  On the 
technology choice pathfinder, Samad said that the GoB was not 
yet ready to join.  MOFAT experts support joining the 
pathfinder, but a final decision is pending review from GoB 
IT experts that Brunei can implement what is called for in 
the pathfinder. 
 
Moving Forward on IPR 
--------------------- 
 
¶6. (C) The GoB in principle supports strengthening IPR 
protections.  Draft legislation to stiffen penalties for 
violations and improve enforcement tools is currently under 
review by the Attorney General's office to ensure it complies 
with Brunei's existing treaty obligations. 
 
Security is Part of APEC's Value 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (C) Samad said that Brunei welcomes security dialogue and 
cooperation in the APEC context.  He said the GoB would soon 
complete necessary bureacratic processes to identify Brunei's 
point of contact on for the Aviation Security POC Network. 
 
BANDAR SER 00000573  002 OF 002 
 
 
He reviewed the draft WMD statement and indicated that the 
current language had removed some of the more objectionable 
language from previous versions.  While he could not give a 
final answer, he indicated that the GoB would likely support 
a text close to this draft. 
 
Go Slow on APEC Reform 
---------------------- 
 
¶8. (C) Samad cautioned that the GoB approach to APEC reform 
would be, "don't fix it if it is not broken."  Coming out of 
the Danang discussions, Brunei did not understand the need to 
have both a Chief Operating Officer and an Executive 
Director.  Brunei is comfortable with the current rotational 
system for the Secretariate and worried that the selection 
process for a professional ED would become politicized with 
unwanted consequences.  Samad said the GoB was also concerned 
about the costs of hiring a COO and wondered if a small IT 
staff couldn't perform this function for the time being. 
FRIEDMAN