Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Setia Dr. Awang Haji Mohd Amin Liew bin Abdullah, Minister of Finance II, attended the 2026 International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group (IMF-WBG) Annual Meetings which were held on 12 – 18 October 2026 in Bangkok, Thailand. Also present at the meetings was Yang Mulia Dayang Hajah Rashidah binti Haji Sabtu, Managing Director of the Brunei Darussalam Central Bank.
At the 2026 IMF-WBG Annual Meeting, Yang Berhormat Dato joined other ASEAN Finance Ministers and representatives in high-level dialogues with the IMF and the WBG. The sessions emphasised among others, strengthening institutional partnerships in alignment with ASEAN integration, leveraging the WBG’s private capital mobilization and advancing the IMF’s policy priorities for enhanced resilience.
Yang Berhormat Dato highlighted core areas for regional transformation including advancing regional digital connectivity and cross-border payment integration, supported by IMF and WBG guidance on managing the macroeconomic and fiscal impacts of Artificial Intelligence and technological disruption. Yang Berhormat Dato also called for enhanced collaboration with the IMF through technical exchanges and knowledge-sharing as well as leveraging on WBG expertise to upgrade regional capabilities in the digital economy, supply chain resilience and attracting investment.
On the sidelines, Yang Berhormat Dato held bilateral discussions with His Excellency Ekniti Nitithanprapas, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Thailand on strengthening financial and investment cooperation between Brunei Darussalam and Thailand across several pillars including potential renewal of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Brunei Investment Agency and Thailand’s Government Pension Fund in 2024; securing agri-food resilience and protect domestic food security and partnering the Islamic Bank of Thailand with Bruneian institutions for workforce training, product innovation and cross-border capital alignment.
Separate bilateral meetings were also held with Her Excellency Indranee Rajah, Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office, Second Minister for Finance and Second Minister for National Development of Singapore; Yang Berhormat Senator Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan, Minister of Finance II of Malaysia and His Excellency Suahasil Nazara, Minister of Finance of Indonesia. Discussions during these meetings focused on enhancing mutual finance cooperation, cross-border economic resilience and shared policy responses to regional macro-fiscal challenges.
Yang Berhormat Dato also held discussions with Mr. Felipe Jaramillo, the WBG East Asia Pacific Vice President and the International Finance Corporation on exploring deeper partnerships through private sector development as well as fiscal and economic resilience.
Separately, Yang Berhormat Dato also participated in a high-level Roundtable on AI and State Capacity: Governing and Delivering in the Global South which examined how AI can strengthen core state functions including revenue administration, public financial management, procurement, regulation, service delivery and crisis response.
MINISTRY OF FINANCE
Commonwealth Drive
Bandar Seri Begawan
Brunei Darussalam
5 Jamadilawal 1448
16 October 2026
