BIMP-EAGA to revitalise regional cooperation activities

KOTA KINABALU: The BIMP-EAGA grouping is getting to revitalise its regional cooperation activities this year through several initiatives.

Sabah BIMP-EAGA Business Council deputy chairman Datuk James Lim said most of the planned activities were slowed down last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said the group hoped to organise the BIMP-EAGA Exhibition and Conference here between Feb 23 to 25 this year.

“We hope it will rekindle the BIMP-EAGA narrative that has gone quiet due to the virus.

“We are (also) appointing representatives in various districts, including in Lahad Datu, in an inclusivity exercise to bring more business people into the picture,” he said in a statement.

Lim also said that there were also plans on seeing the launch of the Kota Kinabalu-Zamboanga air services, and the restart of investment talks with groups from, for example, Tawi-Tawi in Philippines and Sulawesi in Indonesia.

BIMP-EAGA was launched in 1994 as a cooperation initiative by Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. It has a population of 70 million and has a robust economy with untold opportunities.

Meanwhile, during Lim and other businessmen’s visit to Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC) in Lahad Datu, he said the district has key competitive factors such as a sheltered harbour, strategic location with a region rich in resources and also a superior port.

“With the excellent port at POIC and Lahad Datu’s strategic location within BIMP-EAGA and the Lombok-Makassar shipping route, we agree that POIC should expand from just oil palm-based industries to become a regional-global role in shipping and resource consolidation,” he added.

Meanwhile, Yong said Sabah, in particular the east coast, can best be promoted as an ideal consolidation and transhipment centre not only among BIMP-EAGA territories but also in relation to Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership markets such as Australia and New Zealand.

Source: NST