PONTIANAK
- The development of today's global condition is still in multidimension crisis
as the result of COVID-19, geo-politic conflict, energy and food crisis, and
climate change. "To maintain the stability and competitiveness of the
areas, BIMP-EAGA needs to be more proactive in the architectural dynamic of
Indo-Pacific," Deputy Minister for Coordination of International Economic
Cooperation at the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, Edi Pambudi,
stated in the 30th Senior Officials Meeting of BIMP-EAGA that was held on
Thursday (11/24) in Pontianak, West Kalimantan. Indonesia took over the relay
of Leadership of BIMP-EAGA from Philippine and will become the Leader in
2022-2023 with the theme "Support Competitiveness and Climate Resilience".
Several
sectors that need more attention are related to food resilience, energy
resilience of the sub-regional through the improvement of connectivity. Edi
added that BIMP-EAGA also needs to improve the cooperation with sub-regional
cooperation like IMT-GT (Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle) and GMS
(Greater Mekong Subregion) to improve ASEAN role in the sector's architecture.
Another
issue discussed is the result of Mid Term Review (MTR) of the 2025 BIMP-EAGA
Vision (BEV 2025) as seen from the transportation, ICT, trading facilities and
investment, energy, agri-business, and tourism. Institutions need to strengthen
in implementing the result of MTR to achieve the 2025 Vision. "I support
the nomenclature change of Trade Investment Facilitation Cluster into Trade
Investment Promotion and Enterprises Development Cluster, and to form Working
Group on Youth and Sports Development and Working Group on Security," Edi
stated.
Each
of the Head Clusters of BIMP-EAGA, that consist of 8 clusters, disclosed the
report of each work development and achievement. Several important achievements
in 2022 are the completion of five water transportation projects in the
transportation sector, the expansion of satellite-based broadband network to
reach the rural areas of EAGA with 100% target in 2025, the completion of
Tanjung Redep-Tanjung Selor HTVL, the One Borneo Quarantine initiative
finishing, the exploration of new potential in the production of seaweeds and
cows, and the green cities initiative in Kendi and Kota Kinabalu.
Some
highlighted agendas in the discussion are: i) the re-opening of land, air, and
water route post-pandemic to support trading activities and tourism; ii) the
optimization of food production potency in the area of EAGA to improve food
resilience; iii) and the integration of electrical energy and cooperation to
develop renewable energy to secure energy safety in the sub-region.
Businessmen
as the prime mover of BIMP-EAGA are encouraged to participate more in
supporting the economy integration in the areas of EAGA. "Private sectors
are the prime mover for the growth of EAGA through the job creation. Moreover,
governments need to mediate the collaboration of G-to-B so the relationship of
B-to-B can improve and the private sectors can optimize the potency," Edi
explained.
"I
appreciate the support from ADB and ASEAN Secretariat to BIMP-EAGA through the
capacity strengthening and other techniques assistances," Edi said. Edi
specifically hoped that the support from both institutions can also be used to
strengthen the system and infrastructure maintenance in the future to create
seamless connectivity and movement for the trading supply chain. (ekon.go.id)