EAGA firms up 3-year cooperation plan

REPORT FROM BUSINESSWORLD SENIOR OFFICIALS of the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia- Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) have started firming up integration goals and directions over the next three years, focusing on developing the subregion into a single production base and packaged tourism destination, the Mindanao Economic Development Council, or MEDCo, said in a statement over the weekend. This was the agenda of the BIMP-EAGA strategic planning workshop held recently at the Le Meridien Hotel, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, attended by BIMP-EAGA national secretariats, heads of delegations, as well as members of the BIMP-EAGA Business Council. Following series of country consultations, the meeting was held to provide updates on and review the implementation of the BIMP-EAGA Roadmap to Development, including the status of flagship projects. It was also conducted to review developments in the regional and global environments and assess their impact on BIMP-EAGA, determine and agree on the deliverables this year, complete with action and implementation plans and timetables. Among others, the review aimed to increase private sector participation in BIMP-EAGA thrusts. Deliverables identified for this year include the signing of the framework of cooperation with China, forging of cooperation with South Korea and strengthening ties with Australia’s Northern Territories. Clusters and working groups also came up with their respective action plans. The Small and Medium Enterprise Development (SMED) cluster focused on improving access to markets and marketing services information, SME financing, technologies, as well as on facilitating cross-border movement of goods, businessmen and tourists. The Transportation, Infrastructure and Information Communication Technology Development cluster is firming up a road map for transport integration in the subregion. The Energy Working Group targets workshops on renewable energy and energy efficiency projects this year; proposed conventional energy projects designed to reduce cost of power and implementation arrangements for the West-Kalimantan Sarawak Transmission line. Climate change is also one of the priorities of the group, which proposed a regional workshop on "strategies to tackle threat of climate change." Doable actions of the forestry and environment groups will be identified in a meeting next month. Both clusters are set to discuss the Coral Triangle Initiative and the Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion, the MEDCo statement read.