5 Mindanao firms eye BIMP for investment

FIVE Mindanao-based companies have expressed interest to invest in the Brunei, Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-Eaga) sub-region, an executive of the Mindanao Development Author- ity (Minda) said.

These companies, mostly involved in fisheries, agriculture, and technical vocational education, are looking at Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia where they can pour in their investment.

Minda executive director Janet Lopoz, speaking in yesterday’s Kapehan sa Dabaw at SM City Davao, said these local companies are presently in talks with their counterparts from these countries.

“From the scale of 1 to five, maybe they are now in no. 3,” she said.

Lopoz added they are expecting for interested companies that are expected to submit the requirements before Wednesday this week.

“We’re hoping that this is not going to be the last. We will continue to assist the matching because we are overwhelmed with the interest they are showing,” she said, Lopoz added they will continue to assist local investors even after the 2nd BIMP-Eaga and Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMTGT), slated on October 22-26 at SMX Convention Center Davao.

“We hope to continue the business-to-business facilitation, even after this week’s event. In business negotiations, it needs a lot of details,” she said.

The BIMP-Eaga, the biggest business event, is expected to draw in 600 business leaders.

Organizers are positioning the BIMP-Eaga sub-region as the Asean’s fruit basket, which will help the member countries grow further in time for Asean Economic Community (AEC) in 2015.