KUALA LUMPUR, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- Brunei will be sending a team of officers from the country's investment arm, the Brunei Investment Agency (BIA), to explore opportunities in the Malaysian southern Iskandar economic corridor, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said on Wednesday.

    The decision to send the team was made by Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei after he made a visit to the corridor and was briefed about its development Wednesday, he said after bidding farewell to Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah at the Senai International Airport in Johor Bahru, capital of Malaysian southern Johor state.

    "To me this is a very good development," the national news agency Bernama quoted Badawi as saying.

    Prior to the visit to the Iskandar Region, the Prime Minister and Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah had participated in the 12th Malaysia-Brunei Annual Consultation, which began on Tuesday in Johor.

    The team from Brunei could be expected to come very soon, Badawi said.

    According to him, BIA officers had come to the southern corridor some time back to explore investment opportunities there.

    The Brunei Sultan might have been attracted by the development taking place at Iskandar based on the exploratory mission done by the first BIA team, he said.

    The 2,200 square kilometer corridor launched in November 2006 has attracted investments valued at 37 billion ringgit (10.95 billion U.S. dollars) thus far.