KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 26 — Implementing projects under the Mid-Term Review of the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area’s (BIMP-EAGA) Vision 2025 (BEV 2025) will be expedited, and preparatory work will begin for the BIMP-EAGA Post 2025 Agenda.
The ministers who attended the 26th BIMP-EAGA Ministerial Meeting in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, today tasked the senior officials and clusters to hasten the projects’ implementation and the officials to start work on the post-2025 agenda.
In a statement, Malaysian Deputy Economy Minister Datuk Hanifah Hajar Taib said the ministers are pleased with the BIMP-EAGA priority infrastructure projects’ (PIP) significant implementation progress.
Of the 129 PIPs, 48 have been completed, and 81 are in various implementation stages, amounting to US$38.87 billion (RM186.1 billion).
“The ministers were pleased with the resumption of air, land, and sea connectivity in BIMP-EAGA and the relentless effort to market and promote the subregion as the preferred tourism destination,” she said.
The ministers welcomed the letter of intent signing for the One Borneo Quarantine Initiative aimed at strengthening cooperation in monitoring and inspecting the subregion’s quarantine system and enhancing protection from pests and diseases.
“The ministers call upon the agencies to increase engagement with the private sectors and continue providing support by leveraging IR4.0 (the Fourth Industrial Revolution) and climate-smart technology.
“Focus should also be on expanding access to sustainable energy resources, improving infrastructure, as well as upskilling and reskilling of human resources to meet demands and be aligned with Asean initiatives,” Hanifah said.
In addition, the ministers also reinforced the commitment to fast-track the legalisation and institutionalisation of the BIMP-Facilitation Centre (BIMP-FC) as a fully functional BIMP-EAGA central secretariat.
“The support by development partners, namely South Korea, China, Japan and Australia, was very much appreciated.
“The member countries also supported the effort to strengthen cooperation with the Asian Development Bank and Asean secretariat to explore more potential projects and initiatives,” she added.
The 26th BIMP-EAGA Ministerial Meeting was chaired by Brunei’s Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department cum Minister of Finance and Economy II, Datuk Seri Setia Awang Mohd Amin Liew Abdullah.
The 27th BIMP-EAGA Ministerial Meeting and Related Meetings is set to convene in Sabah next year.
— Bernama
