DAVAO CITY—The Philippines is pushing for an increased mobility of people and goods across the borders of the former poorer regions of the four East Asian countries and revive the centuries-old cross-border trade to strengthen and sustain current growth since they bonded together a quarter of a century ago.
At 25, after forming the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia Philippines-East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-Eaga), the secretariat of this subregional cooperation under the Asean reported that the former backwaters of the four countries experienced a remarkable annual growth of 5.7 percent and completed $22.7 billion worth of projects.
President Duterte moved for an increased mobility of its residents across these areas covered by the subregion to widen the awareness of the potentials of these areas for wider commerce and trade. To make this possible, he said, the BIMP-Eaga should work for the establishment of more air links.
The subregion groups composed of the former neglected regions of each member-country except for the oil and timber-rich Brunei Darussalam are: Mindanao and Palawan of the Philippines, the provinces of Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluku, West Papua and Papua of Indonesia; the states of Sabah and Sarawak, and the federal territory of Labuan in Malaysia.
“There is a need to increase air linkages for greater people mobility and cross-border trade,” Duterte said in his address during the 13th BIMP-Eaga Summit held in conjunction with the 34th Asean Summit in Bangkok, Thailand, last week.
The potential of the subregion includes its significant location that encompasses two of the world’s largest rainforests, Borneo and Papua, and biodiverse marine systems in the South China Sea, Celebes Sea and Sulu. Its key economic sectors include: agro-industry, with similar products such as coconut, oil palm, livestock and poultry, and high-value tropical fruits and vegetables; fisheries, with tuna and seaweed among its major exports; tourism because of its untapped pristine rainforests, vast coral reefs, several cultural villages and diverse ethno-linguistic tribes and with 22 World Heritage sites; transport and shipping; and energy.
Known for his crackdown on illegal drugs and terrorism, Duterte urged his counterparts in the Eaga to work together in securing the subregion’s borders to counter threats of terrorism, piracy, and illegal-drug trade, the Mindanao Development Authority said in a news statement.
Duterte and Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei Darussalam, President Joko Widodo of Indonesia and Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, “recognized the key milestones of the economic cooperation” in that summit.
“We take pride in the subregion’s transformation, which has resulted to stronger ties and broader gains in the past 25 years,” their joint statement said.
The BIMP-Eaga has recorded an annual growth of 5.7 percent, with its gross domestic product reaching $287.3 billion in 2017. The subregion, according to the joint statement, also recorded a 21.5-percent growth in merchandise trade in the same year.
The statement further noted the contribution of what the leaders signed last year on the Asean memorandum of understanding on the Improvement of Safety Standards and Inspection for Non-Convention Ships within Asean member-states, saying that this memorandum “further propel maritime trade and safety in the subregion.”