BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN - A joint venture company formed by China's Guangxi Beibu Gulf Port Group and Brunei's Darussalam Asset took over the operation of Brunei's largest container terminal on Tuesday.

Brunei's Deputy Finance Minister Dato Amin Liew, who is also the CEO of Darussalam Asset, and Zhou Xiaoxi, chairman of Guangxi Beibu Gulf Port Group, officially launched the Muara Port Company Sdn Bhd (MPC).

Chinese Ambassador Yang Jian and Awang Ahmaddin, permanent secretary of Brunei's Ministry of Finance attended the opening ceremony.

The MPC will manage, operate, maintain and develop the Muara Container Terminal.

Ambassador Yang said the China-Brunei joint venture marks a new progress for the two countries in the field of infrastructure cooperation.

"Brunei is an important country along the 21st century Maritime Silk Road. We hope that bilateral cooperations in every field can be further deepened," he told Xinhua.

Dato Amin Liew said that as the new operator, the joint venture company is committed to improving the operational efficiency of the terminal, reducing logistics costs and increasing substantially the cargo handling capacity of the port.

He added that the new joint venture is the first step in the cooperation between Darussalam Asset and Guangxi Beibu Gulf Port Group.

"We are very excited about this cooperation. It's the beginning of many other things we pursue together. We are working out on other port-related cooperation with the Beibu Gulf Port Group."