There is no conflict between favouring Islamic and traditional values and being more open and international.

We are considering various ways of making use of our oil and gas downstream industries. This is to be complemented with the import of oil and gas from other sources as raw materials.

Brunei Darussalam is one of the oldest kingdoms in South East Asia.

Theory states that Allahs law is cruel and unfair, but Allah himself has said that his law is indeed fair.

Asean is obviously a very important association for us. Over the past 30 years Asean has made great strides in regional cooperation covering a number of areas, although recently it has been under strain because of the financial crisis and other challenges.

We are increasing our efforts to attract the right kind of foreign investors through our various agencies.

The development of our human resources is an area in which we need to do well as it is decisive in determining the success of our diversification programme.