MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is identifying which part of the Mindanao sealanes should be part of the BIMP-EAGA as the government seeks to enhance trade linkages with Brunei.
Trade and Industry Secretary Gregory L. Domingo said this was discussed during his talks with Brunei officials during the recent presidential trip of President Aquino to the fellow ASEAN country. (source)
BIMP-EAGA stands for Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines-East Asia Growth Area, a sub-regional grouping among ASEAN countries located in east Asia.
“We talked about developing linkages for the BIMP-EAGA sealanes. We discussed which part of Mindanao sealanes that we can connect,” Domingo said.
He said that once the sea and air routes are developed, business will follow.
Domingo said the development could be developed either by the government or the private sector.
Domingo noted that the country imports a lot of stuff from Brunei including construction materials and food.
For instance, the Philippines has been producing Halal foods but it is good to establish a cooperation with Brunei to be able to get Halal certification, which is considered to be authentic coming from a Muslim country.
“It is either we can get a certification from Brunei as domestic manufacturer or we can produce it and ship it to them for additional processing so we can put the seal of the halal certification,” Domingo said.
Aside from trade, the Philippines has also encouraged Brunei to participate in the country’s various Private-Public Partnership projects. Domingo had discussions with the Brunei Development Board.
“So it is good for us to seek opportunities in Brunei,” he said.
Since its establishment 14 years ago, the BIMP-EAGA has not really accomplished much. During the ASEAN Leaders Summit in Vietnam late last year, Domingo has called for a change of tack in this sub-regional economic bloc for it to really fly.
BIMP-EAGA (Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asia Growth Area) for this sub-regional economic bloc to really fly 14 years after its establishment.
The BIMP-EAGA, which was created based on the proximity of the focused provinces of the member countries, still requires to iron out customs and immigration procedures to facilitate trade among countries in this grouping.
According to Domingo, there is also a need to determine whether there is need to establish roll-on roll-off (RO-RO) port operations among the countries involved.
“We need to determine on our side if it makes sense for RO-RO ports in General Santos and Davao and if there is enough commercial activity to justify this and if it also makes sense for other countries to mount their own RO-RO,” he said.
Domingo said the Philippines will definitely voice this out and push it strongly to maximize the potentials of the BIMP-EAGA.
BIMP-EAGA was launched in 1994 as a cooperation initiative by Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, all of which are member-countries of the regional Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
BIMP-EAGA covers a land area of 1.6 million square kilometers and has a combined population of 57.5 million.
It comprises the following focus areas: the entire sultanate of Brunei Darussalam; the provinces of Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluku, West Papua and Papua in Indonesia; the states of Sabah and Sarawak, and the federal territory of Labuan in Malaysia; and the island of Mindanao and the province of Palawan in the Philippines.
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