Marcos calls for increased collaboration in BIMP-EAGA

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. on Thursday called for increased collaboration in Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines-East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) for the further development of the region.
 
“BIMP-EAGA provides our common sub-region, which has long been impaired by strife, with better access to viable economic opportunities,” Marcos said during his intervention at the 15th BIMP-EAGA Summit in Indonesia.
 
“So, let us continue this impetus for growth in BIMP-EAGA and thereby position our very own sub-region as a well-connected, economically thriving, multi-country trade, investment, and tourism destination. There lies our future,” he said.
 
According to the President, the Philippine government supports the increased focus of the BIMP-EAGA Vision 2025 on broad strategies to align sub-regional pandemic recovery and transformation efforts with the ASEAN Comprehensive Recovery Framework, particularly in the areas of food security, creative industries and e-commerce, tourism recovery, and green recovery.  
 
He said the COVID-19 pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine have shown the need "to maintain the physical connectivity that underpins the region’s extensive and comprehensive logistics chain in all its aspects."
 
“Our collective effort towards rebuilding the air and sea linkages disrupted by geopolitical challenges and the pandemic still remains the key towards our full economic recovery,” Marcos said.
 
Marcos also underscored the importance of BIMP-EAGA’s synergies and partnerships with external partners, such as the Asian Development Bank, Japan, the Republic of Korea, China, and the Northern Territory of Australia.
 
He also welcomed the BIMP-EAGA-Korea Cooperation Fund (BKCF) and the increase of the Republic of Korea’s contribution from US$1 million in 2021 to US$3 million in 2022.
 
Launched in 1994, the BIMP-EAGA initiative boosts growth in trade, investments, and tourism through new intra-regional shipping routes and air links, as well as power interconnection projects.
 
Other key areas of cooperation include agribusiness, tourism, the environment, and socio-cultural education.  —VBL, GMA Integrated News