The friendship between Brunei Darussalam and Japan is strengthened with the establishment of the Brunei Methanol Company Sendirian Berhad, BMC. Since its 15 years of establishment, it has helped to diversify the economy. The BMC 15th Anniversary celebration was held at The Empire Brunei, 11th September morning.

Present, Yang Berhormat Pehin Datu Lailaraja Retired Major General Dato Paduka Seri AWANG HAJI Halbi bin Haji Mohd Yussof, Minister at the Prime Minister's Office and Second Minister of Defence. Mr. Takayuki Miyamoto, Chairman of BMC in his speech highlighted that 95 percent of BMC's workforce are Bruneians. The function ran concurrently with the signing of the Research Support and Collaboration Agreement for the BMC-UBD Industrial Scholarship. Under the agreement, BMC will provide funding for UBD's Centre for Advanced Material and Energy Sciences (CAMES) research projects. Also present, Dato Seri Paduka Haji Khairuddin bin Haji Abdul Hamid, Deputy Minister of Finance and Economy for Economy and Dato Seri Paduka Awang Haji Mohamad Azmi bin Haji Mohammad Hanifah, Deputy Minister of Energy at the Prime Minister's Office.