World’s fastest yacht ‘Pallada’ from Russia docks at Brunei's   Muara Port

The world's fastest yacht, dubbed the ‘Pallada’ from Russia docked at Brunei's Muara Port on Tuesday, as part of its mission of sailing around the world as it celebrates its 125th anniversary.

Following the Brunei Maritime Academy Agreement signing ceremony between Brunei and Singapore Maritime Academy (SMA), the Ministry of Education of Brunei Darussalam in collaboration with the Ministry of Communications, the Energy Department at the Prime Minister's Office has invited the Russian ship ‘Pallada’ to Brunei.‘Pallada’ is currently conducting a training mission to Singapore and Brunei and berthed at Muara Port with 95 Russian crew and cadets, 18 SMA students and an instructor on board.

Among the objectives of the visit is to provide experiential learning to students enrolled on to Maritime-related programs as well as raise public awareness about maritime professions. It is hoped that more ship visits will be organized in the future to further improve people's perception and understanding as to what the seafarer's profession entails and can offer thus providing more job and career choices and opportunities for the locals.

A site around Sungai Duhun in the Belait District has already been identified as a better and suitable location for the Brunei Maritime Academy (BMA) to be built upon. The first intake of the BMA will start next month, with a target of 200 trainees annually.

BMA will be under the purview of the Ministry of Education, driven by the Energy Department at Prime Minister's Office and supported by the Ministry of Communications.