At the heart of the statement are the sovereignty issues over offshore oil blocks off the coast of Sabah, which is being claimed by both Malaysia and Brunei.
Speaking to reporters Najib said, “Given the tremendous goodwill that existed between the two countries and between their top leaders, any bilateral issues still pending could be resolved in due course based on the principle of a win-win situation.”
“I raised the [oil sovereignty] issue and [Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah] responded by expressing the hope that the issue will be settled based on a win-win principle for Brunei and Malaysia.
“Officials of both governments [have] been instructed to explore the details relating to the formula which can be employed to settle the matter [and] the Sultan [is] expected to touch on the issue when he meets Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in Malaysia in September for the annual consultative meeting between [our] two countries,” added Najib.
The area in question, 150 km off the coast of Sabah, has estimated recoverable reserves of around 700 million barrels.
