BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN – Vincent Piket, the Ambassador of the European Union to Indonesia and Ambassador-Designate to Brunei Darussalam, is scheduled to give a keynote lecture at Universiti Brunei Darussalam on Thursday, March 2, as part of his working visit to Bandar Seri Begawan.
The keynote lecture, titled “The European Union as a Global Actor in the Indo-Pacific” will examine the EU’s strategic interests in the region, and how it intends to strengthen cooperation and diversify partnerships in the areas of trade, development, and security, in the region and with Brunei.
“With the global centre of gravity shifting towards the Indo-Pacific, there is clear demand for greater EU engagement with this dynamic part of the world,” the newly-launched EU-Brunei Partnership Facility said in a statement.
“While the EU is extensively engaged in the region through investment and development cooperation, a more intensive engagement is aimed at boosting political and security cooperation to contribute to the stability and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific.”
Ambassador Piket’s lecture will be followed by a panel discussion on EU foreign and security policy. He will be joined by French Ambassador Bernard Regnauld-Fabre and German Ambassador Gerda Winkler. The discussion will be moderated by Dr Joyce Teo Siew Yean, Assistant Vice-Chancellor and Vice President for Global Affairs at UBD.
Students and academics will also have the opportunity to learn more about the Erasamus+ Scholarships and the Horizon Europe Research Programme, the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation.
Those interested in attending the lecture can sign up here.
These events are organised through the European Union-Brunei Darussalam Partnership Facility, which aims to promote two-way exchanges and know-how transfer between Bruneian and EU stakeholders from government, private sector, and civil society. The Facility covers policy areas of shared interest, like economic cooperation, higher education, research, environment, climate and sustainable growth.