Brunei Darussalam

The Sultanate’s sharia-compliant insurance sector is looking to expand its market share, stepping up efforts to promote takaful products and increase the range of policies on offer, with the sector likely to see greater segmentation as a result.

Brunei Darussalam has adopted a determined bottom up approach to ensuring the comprehensive spread of information and communications technology (ICT) throughout society and the economy, though sector participants expect it will take time for these policy actions to transform the status quo.

As part of the Sultanate’s plans to overhaul the national education system, Brunei Darussalam’s education professionals are being taught new skills to better equip them to teach the new generation of managers. Efforts in this area are part of the shift in focus away from what has been described as “chalk and talk” teaching to a curriculum that is designed to meet the future needs of students in a changing working environment.

Brunei Darussalam is stepping up efforts to promote private sector industrial development as part of a wider programme to diversify the economy, though limited availability of land and skills shortages in some areas may slow progress.

Brunei Darussalam is looking to target faith-based tourism by seeking to share the Sultanate’s Islamic culture and heritage with a wider audience in the Muslim world and beyond.

Brunei Darussalam is moving to strengthen its food security, working to increase production of vital crops at home while also looking at the option of investing in farms and agriculture facilities overseas to ensure the nation’s staple requirements are met.