Hassanal Bolkiah

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

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.

Our strength in finance has led us to set up an international financial centre with medium and long-term objectives, especially to develop Islamic financial and insurance services.

We will host the Asean summit in November this year. It will be an occasion to reflect on our achievements collectively and to look at how Asean can maintain its leading role in regional and international cooperation.

The nation will benefit in the long term if it continues to be open to foreign expertise. This will help the country to establish its business culture and environment faster, based on international best practice.

With faith and gratitude to Allah the almighty, I declare that tomorrow, Thursday May 1, 2014, will see the enforcement of sharia law phase one, to be followed by the other phases.

Future peace, prosperity and confidence depend not just on ourselves but on the success of all nations. Hence, we are all partners, no matter what our backgrounds, cultures, faiths and histories.

We need foreign skills to stay competitive.

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.

Today, bilateral relations with Britain are excellent, with cooperation in many areas and both countries continuing to work on strengthening these ties.

As a small country, both in size and population, our future hinges on the quality of our people.

The level of our educational development is high and serves as a strong basis for our future progress.