President Joko Widodo attended the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) meeting chaired by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in Labuan Bajo, West Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara, Thursday (11/5/2023).
The BIMP-EAGA meeting was the third meeting of the President of the Republic of Indonesia which was held today where previously the ASEAN Retreat Summit and the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT) meeting had taken place.
The meeting discussed the importance of ensuring that State Leaders will receive reports that are consistent and reflect BIMP-EAGA’s performance in increasing economic development in the sub-regions.
The meeting also discussed several draft documents to be reported to the Head of State, namely the BIMP-EAGA Minister’s Report to Leaders. This report contains the achievements of cooperation in the five priority pillars, namely food basket, connectivity, tourism, environment, and socio-cultural education pillars.
BIMP-EAGA Leader Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim also ratified the Joint Leaders’ Statement which contains directions from the Head of State to achieve the BIMP-EAGA Vision 2025.
In a joint statement, BIMP-EAGA encourages the strengthening of BIMP-EAGA collaboration with partner countries such as South Korea, Japan and Australia, as well as with ADB which has been a strategic partner in supporting BIMP-EAGA activities.
Previously, Deputy for Coordinating International Economic Cooperation at the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, Edi Prio Pambudi, said that BIMP-EAGA had an important role in initiating regional economic growth.
“BIMP-EAGA as a building block for ASEAN plays an important role in achieving the regional integration agenda. The cooperation mechanism with a project approach can be used as a case study for ASEAN initiatives,” said Edi Prio Pambudi.
