This follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Wednesday, which is aimed at spurring policy and regulatory exchanges, as well as business collaborations between government and private entities of both countries in digital media such as internet protocol television, cable television and mobile broadcasting.

The memorandum was signed by the Permanent Secretary of Brunei's Ministry of Communications, Mr Awang Alaihuddin Taha, in his capacity as Director of Broadcasting, and Dr Tan Chin Nam, Chairman of Singapore's Media Development Authority, on the sidelines of BroadcastAsia 2009.

'Through this MOU, we hope to put in place a broad framework for our agencies to share ideas and their experiences to meet the challenges of regulating emerging digital platforms and for companies in both countries to collaborate on different facets of the digital media value-chain,' said Dr Tan.

Wednesday's agreement builds on and complements the existing bilateral media MO in broadcasting signed by Brunei Darussalam and Singapore on 6 Oct 1990.

The closer media ties between the two countries also reinforce firm media co-operation among Asean member states.

They have been leading the region's efforts towards digital broadcasting through their co-Chairmanship of the Asean Digital Broadcasting (ADB) meetings.

Other than Brunei, Singapore has also sealed media co-operation MOUs with three other Asean countries, namely the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand.