The Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) has been an important platform to boost socioeconomic growth in less developed, marginalised and remote areas in the four member countries, and by leveraging this platform, member countries can foster a collaborative approach to environmental management and protection, ensuring long-term prosperity for the BIMP-EAGA region.
This was said by Director of Environment, Parks and Recreation Hajah Martinah binti Haji Tamit during the 12th Environment Cluster Meeting of the BIMP-EAGA at a hotel in Gadong yesterday.
She also highlighted the outcome of BIMP-EAGA Strategic Planning Meeting held in Kuching, Malaysia in February this year, where the development of a Blue Economy Strategy 2030 emerged as a key deliverable to seize opportunities and offer solutions to the challenges facing BIMP-EAGA and Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT) of their shared seas and waterways and is confident that entrusting the Environment Cluster to materialise this strategy is a positive starting point.
The meeting, hosted by the Department of Environment, Parks and Recreation (JASTre) of the Ministry of Development (MoD) also saw remarks delivered by Permanent Secretary (Planning, Land Use and Environment) at MoD Dr Nor Imtihan binti Haji Abdul Razak.
Hajah Martinah hailed the members of the Environment Cluster Working Group for their collective efforts and commitment, as well as to BIMP-EAGA Facilitation Centre, the Asian Development Bank and development partners for the support in both the completed and ongoing projects.
She also highlighted the Sabah International Blue Economy Conference organised by Sabah Maju Jaya which will be held for three days in September this year in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
The conference will focus on cooperation, innovation and conservation in the context of Sabah’s Blue Economy and encourages members to actively participate in the conference.
The meeting also shared the development and discussed the implementation of the Environment Cluster Strategic Priorities BEV 2025 (Rolling Pipeline Projects 3, 2023-2024), including new projects for this year, the Joint BIMP-EAGA and IMT-GT Blue Economy Strategy 2030 focusing on Sustainable Tourism and the BIMP-EAGA Economic Corridor Study.
The meeting was attended by delegations from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
The Sultanate’s delegation comprised officials from the Ministry of Finance and Economy and JASTre at the MoD. Representatives from the BIMP-EAGA Business Council (BEBC), the BIMP-EAGA Facilitation Centre and Asian Development Bank also attended.
Indonesia will host the 13th BIMP-EAGA Environment Cluster Meeting which will be convened next year.
