Brunei Darussalam’s plans are aligned with the digital strategy of BIMP-EAGA Vision 2035. The subregion seeks to connect communities, drive trade and investment, create quality jobs, elevate public service delivery, and improve quality of life. Photo credit: iStock/Adennysyahputra.
Brunei Darussalam has rolled out a 5-year masterplan for digital transformation through 2030, with artificial intelligence (AI) now a key part of a national strategy that ensures investments in technology drive socioeconomic growth.
Aiming to become a digital-first nation, Brunei Darussalam launched the plan in June to build on the gains made from the country’s digital transformation over the past 5 years. Digital Brunei 2030 succeeds the Digital Economy Masterplan 2025 rolled out in 2021, which the government credits for establishing the country’s “foundational digital capabilities.”
Brunei Darussalam’s plans are aligned with the digital strategy of BIMP-EAGA Vision 2035. The subregion seeks to become digitally integrated, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable, powered by secure, green, and innovative digital solutions that seamlessly connect communities, drive trade and investment, create quality jobs, elevate public service delivery, and improve quality of life.
Other countries in BIMP-EAGA and across Southeast Asia are also in the midst of their own digital transformation, which is catapulting economies into a new era of development, revolutionizing trade, enhancing productivity, and improving public service delivery.
In transition
With the new plan, Brunei is transitioning its digital transformation to ensure that technology investments, including AI, deliver tangible and sustainable outcomes for the economy, government, and society.
As of the first quarter of 2025, the country’s information and communications sector contributed B$216.9 million ($170.86 million), or 2.6%, to its gross domestic product, according to the plan.
“Brunei is not just adopting new technologies but building a comprehensive national strategy to safeguard data, empower its people, and strengthen the digital economy,” the Ministry of Transport and Infocommunications said in a statement.
The 2030 plan brings together four national strategies under a single coordinated framework: the Digital Government Strategy, Digital Society Strategy, Digital Business Strategy, and the cross-cutting Data and Artificial Intelligence Strategy. The masterplan emphasizes alignment across ministries and agencies, between the public and private sectors, and between policy intent and delivery—reducing fragmentation, improving efficiency, and ensuring digital initiatives reinforce rather than duplicate one another.
Key projects
The plan identified key projects for each of the four strategies through 2030. The projects range from a national sovereign cloud, government service platforms, and digital inclusion plans to an AI-capable data center, a national Brunei Large language model, and an AI skills program.
Government | Society | Business | Data/AI |
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Government Society Business Data/AI Government Cloud First Policy GovBN 2.0 Citizen Portal and SuperApp National Business Service Portal Government low-code/no-code platforms Document management system National Digital Inclusion Policy Digital Access Plan Digital Volunteer Program Digital foundations in primary and secondary education Advanced digital skills for higher education Digital Literacy Framework Digital Citizenship Framework Productivity and Efficiency Joint-Funding for Digital Adoption 2.0 ASEAN Single Window integration Open finance standards Digital payment pilots Cross-border QR payments MSME digitalization Digitalization of the private sector National Sovereign Cloud AI-capable Data Center National Brunei large language model AI governance and ethics Government GenAI assistant National data-sharing/interoperability platform Government data analytics AI skills program.
A 2025 report from the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) on the region’s digital transformation said Brunei Darussalam’s digital economy push supports the county’s long-term plan to diversify its economy, which is heavily reliant on oil and gas. Having a digital economy ecosystem can transform extensive digital activities into thriving digital business activities. The digital economy ecosystem will drive progress in various niche areas where Brunei Darussalam can excel, such as a halal hub and an Islamic financial hub. “This will stimulate the movement of goods, people, and services; encourage new investments; create jobs; and further diversify the economy,” the ERIA report said.
Creating a digital economy ecosystem entails developing four key supporting factors: smart government and governance, smart business, smart society, and smart environment, said the report. With such an ecosystem, the Sultanate can create a more focused business digital environment, such as a digital ecosystem within the halal hub or a smart eco health and tourism digital ecosystem, expanding new demands by increasing economic scale. Having such a system requires developing interconnected networks of organizations, individuals, and technologies that collaborate and interact within digital business ecosystems.
Gains and challenges
Over the past decade, Brunei Darussalam has laid more than 6,000 kilometers of fiber optic cable, extended mobile coverage from 80% to 96%, and delivered nationwide 5G connectivity. In January 2026, it launched BruneiID, which enables secure single-credential access to government services. It also introduced the Tarus digital payment hub, which has been processing transactions since going live in March 2025.
However, challenges remain, said Yang Berhormat Pengiran Dato Seri Setia Shamhary bin Pengiran Dato Paduka Haji Mustapha, Minister of Transport and Infocommunications, in the new plan’s foreword. “Across government, digital services can still appear fragmented. Processes may remain unnecessarily complex. Outcomes are not always consistent. Over time, such gaps do more than inconvenience. They erode trust. Trust in systems. Trust in delivery. Trust in the integrity of digitation transformation itself,” he said.
He thus stressed the need to move beyond infrastructure and adoption toward integration and impact. “This requires stronger alignment of platforms, interoperable data systems, simplified processes, and a disciplined focus on service design that places citizens and businesses at the center.”
In his own foreword for the plan, Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Setia Dr. Awang Haji Mohd Amin Liew bin Abdullah, Minister at the Prime Minister's Office and Minister of Finance and Economy II, emphasized the need for outcomes, not infrastructure alone. “Digital transformation must contribute to higher productivity, lower transaction costs, improved service quality, and a more conducive environment for enterprise and investment. It must strengthen confidence among businesses and citizens alike by delivering services that are reliable, secure, and responsive,” he said. It must also support fiscal sustainability by promoting interoperability and disciplined investment in shared digital foundations.