PH chair of BIMP-EAGA’s transport working group

THE Philippines has accepted the role of chairman of the transport cluster and air linkages working group (ALWG) as BIMP-EAGA’s Vision 2025 target comes near.

The Philippines accepted the chairmanship role during the 9th BIMPEAGA Transport Cluster Meeting held from Sept 1 to 2, 2022 in Jakarta, Indonesia. The BIMP-EAGA refers to the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-The Philippines–East Asean Growth Area.

OIC-Director for Planning Service Felicisimo Pangilinan, Jr., the head of the delegation, highlighted in his speech the uniqueness of the BIMP-EAGA subregional cooperation. He said that “because of its proximity to each other, beyond being a formal government association, the member countries are comparable to neighbors in a community, interconnected by cross-border trade and people-to-people exchanges.”

BIMP-EAGA is conducting a midterm review of its BIMP-EAGA Vision 2025, together with its regional development advisor, the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

“With 2025 not too far away, the target year envisioned for BIMP-EAGA to emerge resilient, inclusive, sustainable and economically competitive, the member countries renewed their commitment to addressing gaps and bottlenecks in the implementation of projects and strategic priorities,” said the Department of Transportation.

The three working groups, namely Air Linkages, Land Transport and Sea Linkages, deliberated on various plans, programs and interventions with the end view of establishing multimodal transport connectivity in the subregion’s economic corridors.

The Philippine delegation is composed of representatives from the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), the Land Transportation Office-Philippines (LTO), the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina), the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), and the Transportation department’s International Cooperation Division (ICD).

BIMP-EAGA is subregional economic cooperation designed to narrow the development gap in select focus areas of the participating governments. In the Philippines, the focus areas include Palawan and the entire island of Mindanao.