His Royal Highness Prince Mohamad Bolkiah, the Minister of Foreign Affairs together with his fellow ASEAN Foreign Ministers and the ASEAN Secretary General Monday held closed-door discussions at the ASEAN Ministerial Retreat.  The retreat was held at the Shangri-La's Mactan Island Resort Hotel in Cebu, the Philippines.

The annual retreat of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers allows them to have free and candid discussions on issues of relevance and importance to the region. The ministers discussed regional and international issues, follow-up actions to the latest ASEAN Summit and preparation for the ASEAN Summit to be held in Kuala Lumpur in December this year.

Later, His Royal Highness attended a working lunch hosted by the Philippines' Ambassador to Canada, His Excellency Francisco Benedicto. This year's retreat is to look into ways to promote the aims laid down in the Vientiane Action Programme, which declared that to move forward means that ASEAN would have to engage other countries in the region to enhance the benefits of broadened East Asian cooperation.

His Royal Highness Prince Haji Sufri Bolkiah who is currently in Saudi Arabia attending the first Solidarity Games of Islamic Nations, performed the Zuhur prayer at the Nabawi Mosque in Madina and also paid a visit to the mausoleum of the Prophet Mohammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wassalam

His Royal Highness was accompanied by the Consul General of Brunei Darussalam in Jeddah, Pengiran Haji Jabaruddin bin Pengiran Haji Mohammad Salleh and Brunei Darussalam's Chef De Mission, Awang Jaafar bin Bangkol. Also accompanying His Royal Highness were the Royal Protocol and officials from the host country.

The petroleum industry continues to be an important industry to Brunei Darussalam, as the backbone to the nation's economy and is expected to fuel the economic diversification efforts of this country. The Minister of Industry and Primary Resources, Pehin Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Abdul Rahman who is also Chairman of the Board of Directors of Brunei Shell Petroleum or BSP, was speaking at a farewell dinner hosted by BSP.

The function was to welcome its new Managing Director, Mr. Graehame Henderson. Yang Berhormat Pehin revealed that since September 2003, BSP has undertaken several performance initiatives under the leadership of its Managing Director, Mr. Mark Carne.

The minister said since taking up the position of Managing Director of BSP and BST in September 2003, Mark has undertaken to pursue several successful performance initiatives such as the discovery of oil at the Seria North Flank, the implementation of the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code requirements and the extension of the Petroleum Mining Agreement. Equally important was also the continued support by BSP towards the nation's Bruneianisation or localisation effort in placing competent and well experienced Bruneians in senior positions in the company, as well as the development of SME’s and entrepreneurs such as the Shell LiveWire programme.

The number of patients treated at the Accident and Emergency Department of the Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Saleha Hospital has nearly doubled, an increase of one hundred percent within an eight year period. A total of 38 thousand nine hundred and thirty-four patients was recorded in 1996 compared to 76 thousand in 2004

The Minister of Health, Pehin Dato Seri Setia Haji Awang Abu Bakar highlighted the figure at the opening of the First National Triage Course on Accident and Emergency Services Monday. The three-day National Triage course not only covers aspects in terms of theory and practical training but it also comprised a special topic that is telephone triaging.

The course is one of the steps taken by the Ministry of Health to increase and develop the service and facilities in handling accident and emergency cases.Meanwhile, a more systematic procedure has been introduced by the Ministry of Health in the identification of emergency cases for patients. The procedure will enable the critically ill patients to receive urgent attention, while those patients whose conditions are not severe may have to wait for their turn for treatment. The concept is called the National Triage scale derived from the French word Triage, which means sorting out by category of injury.

Through the triage approach, patients seeking treatment at the Accident and Emergency section will be placed in three categories according to their clinical conditions. Category One is for those who need immediate attention and treatment such as heart attack and severe asthma. In Category Two will be those with less urgent needs, such as those suffering dizziness and unable to stand on their feet. The last category is for the non-urgent cases, such as coughs, flu and fever.

The total number of cars in Brunei Darussalam is ever increasing at an alarming rate. The increase can cause concern if it is not managed properly.  The Minister of Communication, in revealing the state of road safety in the country, says that the ratio of vehicle ownerships in Brunei Darussalam is the highest in the region

In 2003 alone there were nearly 245 thousand vehicles, including motorcycles. This shows an increase of 60 percent within a 10 year period compared to the country's estimated population of 370 thousand people.

The Minister Pehin Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Zakaria made the remarks at the launching of the National Road Safety Campaign 2005 Monday. According to Yang Berhormat Pehin this scenario will present various challenges and needs serious attention. Since the establishment of the Road Safety Council under the auspices of the Ministry of Communication in 1977, the government of His Majesty the Sultan and Yang DiPertuan of Brunei Darussalam has incurred huge sums in improving the quality of roads in line with the progress planned in the Eighth National Development Plan, which covers infrastructural and road developments in rural areas.

The Minister also said, however, that despite the rise in the number of vehicles between 1996 to 2003, the country recorded a lower vehicles-versus-road-accident-deaths ratio at 1.14 deaths per every 10,000 vehicles, down from 3.66 deaths prior to the 1996-2003 period. The Minister lamented with concern that 2004 saw an increase of some 28 percent in the number of deaths against the year before. Police statistics showed that self-accidents and car-on-car accidents represented the highest incidence of road accidents. He attributed the causes of accidents in these categories to the attitudes of motorists and other road users themselves.

In Islamic education, the learning of the Al-Quran reading does not stop solely at knowing how to read it alone, but also for students to be well-versed in the genuine teachings of the holy book. The Deputy Minister of Education also suggested that the teaching of Al-Quran at schools should be developed from the students merely being able to read, to their understanding of the verses as well

Pehin Dato Paduka Awang Haji Suyoi touched on the subject at the first Quran Reading Competition for higher educational institutions organised by the Seri Begawan Religious Teacher's Training College Monday.  Yang Dimuliakan Pehin expressed hope that College can consolidate its course programmes by forming a centre of Al-Quran Reading. Yang DiMuliakan Pehin said through the centre all aspects of developments in Quran reading education such as research and studies, consultancy, publication, seminars and other related activities in learning and teaching, dissemination and resource sharing will be implemented more systematically towards achieving effective strategies in this field. He went on to say that he is of the understanding that the college is currently drawing-up several programmes aimed solely at enhancing the quality and level of the learning of the Al-Quraan.

Awangku Mohamad Adibul Amin bin Pengiran Haji Marjuki of the Pengiran Muda Al-Muhtadee Billah College emerged champion in the men's category. He was also adjudged the best reader. Meanwhile, the winner in the Women's Category was Dayang Siti Zahrina binti Abdul Wahab of the Seri Begawan Teacher's Training College. Prizes were presented by the Deputy Minister of Education. The Seri Begawan Teacher's Training College was adjudged the best team in the competition overall.