THE Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area (Bimp-Eaga) Vision 2025 is set to be finalized within this month, an official said.
Romeo Castañaga, country’s focal person for the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Development Working Group of Bimp-Eaga and Davao del Sur Provincial director of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) told reporters Thursday at the sidelines of the National Banana Congress 2016 at the SMX Convention Center that the blueprint will be finalized on October 12 and 13 in Makassar, Indonesia.
He said that it will be in preparation for the launching of the document during the 12th Bimp-Eaga Summit, which will be hosted by the Philippines on November 28, 29, and 30 in Puerto Princesa, Palawan.
The Bimp-Eaga Vision 2025 will serve as the successor document to the Implementation Blueprint 2012-2016. It also eyed “to support and complement the Asean 2025: Forging Ahead Together roadmap recognizing the sub-region's strategic role in the Asean community encouraging greater synergy between the regional and sub regional's sectoral bodies”.
“The Vision 2025 has pillars namely connectivity (transport), trade facilitation covering the Customs, Immigration, Quarantine and Security (CIQS), SME Development, Socio-cultural and environment,” he said. It also anchored the tourism, agribusiness, education, among other sectors.
He added that for the SME Working Group, the Growth Corridor Roads integrates the value chain approach.
In a recent 19th Bimp-Eaga ministerial meeting in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia last December 10, ministers from the member countries said in a joint statement emphasizing that the ministers urged all Bimp-Eaga stakeholders, especially the private sector and the local governments, to share their views, inputs, and projects that will generate economic growth and development in the sub-region.
"We welcome the formulation of the Bimp-Eaga Vision 2025 to develop a resilient, inclusive, sustainable and economically competitive sub-region. We endorse the guiding framework for BIMP-Eaga Vision 2025 and direct our senior officials to finalize it in time for the 12th BIMP-Eaga Summit," a statement, signed by six ministers, three representing Malaysia and one each from Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, and the Philippines, said.
Meanwhile, Mindanao Development Authority (Minda) Deputy Executive Director Romeo Montenegro said earlier that the transport and connectivity cluster of the Bimp-Eaga) is crucial for the vision’s realization of the sub-economic region.
Montenegro said that transport and connectivity is among the priority clusters being looked at by the multi-sectoral technical officials and private sector representative of the four member-countries of Bimp-Eaga.
“We have already identified our direction with the BIMP-Eaga Vision 2025 and we consider the transport and connectivity cluster as among the essential area because how can other projects and programs be achieved if we (four countries) are not that connected, the transport and connectivity is indeed the common denominator in the discussions,” Montenegro said.
The sub-economic region’s clusters are agribusiness, environment, information and communication technology, socio-cultural and education, power and energy infrastructure, tourism and transport.
