After a visit by the Minister of Home Affairs to Brunei’s Labour Department, the minister gave employers and local jobseekers the advice that they must change their mindset to reduce unemployment. This advice included emphasis on following the rules for applicants for employment licenses, making sure all workers get their salaries paid promptly, and giving priority to local jobseekers.

Clothes and sporting goods are the two most common items that are being priced high. Businesses decline to state how they fix prices.

In order to increase transport infrastructure development in Borneo, AirAsia will operate the Kuching-Bandar Seri Begawan and Kota Kinabalu-Bandar Seri Begawan routes. This was agreed in the 5th BIMP-EAGA Transport, Infrastructure and ICT Development Cluster meeting that took place yesterday.

Several major businesses organizations in Myanmar and Brunei have reached a “memorandum of understanding” (MoJ) on promoting trade ties between the two countries. The MoJ was signed by the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UNFCCI) and its Brunei counterpart and dealt especially with the trading of Myanmar’s gems, jade and jewelry. Myanmar-Brunei bilateral trade accounted for about USD 800,000 out of Myanmar's total trade with ASEAN members which stood at USD 4.06 billion in 2006-07.

Total E&P;Borneo BV (TEPB) announced that is just about to finish drilling the deepest well in Brunei Darussalam. The company goal is to drill 6,230m, there are only 691m left to conclude their project. Mohammad Damit, general manager of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), said that the "post-rejuvenation" gas production levels will remain at 7 million tones per year.

The Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB) has proceeded with the bidding process to develop two major projects that the Sultanate hopes will help diversify the countries economic profile. The first project is related to the creation and building of a single point mooring system and sub-sea pipeline to facilitate the export of methanol from the Sungai Liang Industrial Park. The second project revolves around the development of the Pulau Muara Besar, an international deep-water container and transshipment hub.

Due to the expanding production capabilities of Brunei’s chicken industry, the country has started negotiations with Singapore to begin exporting the countries excess chickens. A major problem for Brunei will be competing with other major exporters (such as Thailand, Brazil and China) and being able to keep the pricing competitive. An additional obstacle remains that Brunei chicken is not compliant with EU standards. Brunei would be forced to reduce the amount of anti-biotics that are given to the chickens before export to the EU would be possible.

The deputy dean of the Universiti Brunei Darssalam Faculty of Business, Economics, and Policy reported that Brunei needs to diversify its economy in order to avoid economic shocks from a softer global demand for oil due to world depression. The deputy dean makes it clear that Brunei is completely dependent on an item it can’t control. Oil and gas currently comprise 50 percent of Brunei’s economy’s output and slight changes to the energy sector could throw the sultanate into economic upheaval.

Brunei’s fledgling ICT industry is expected to grow dramatically in the next few years and local companies are expected to collaborate in order to nurture local ICT skills. The Brunei ICT sector currently focuses primarily on the government sector and is required to look regional or international in order to grow their knowledge and experience. The government recently initiated a program to support local ICT companies through the Ministry of Industry, Primary, and Resources (MIPR) and the i-Centre of the Brunei Economic Development Board. The government stresses that the ICT companies need to go beyond their current commitment and tap international resources in order to boost their capabilities.

The Brunei Ministry of Defense has awarded a USD 25 million contract to the Harris Corporation in order to update the tactical communication equipment of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF). The Harris Corporation will provide the RBAF with radios and equipment as part of the Combat Net Radio program that the RBAF has recently initiated. Harris Corporation had defeated Germany’s Rohde & Schwartz GmBH & Co in December 2007 for the contract.