BIMP-Eaga Vision 2025, new challenge to Philippines

• Source:http://www.sunstar.com.ph/davao/business/2016/01/24/bimp-eaga-vision-2025-new-challenge-philippines-453489
• Sunday, January 24, 2016

By Ace June Rell S. Perez

THE implementation of the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-Eaga) Vision 2025 will be more challenging for the Philippines being the chair the BIMP-Eaga starting September 2016.

The BIMP-Eaga Vision 2025 is a blueprint eyed to support and complements the Asean 2025: Forging Ahead Together roadmap. It will also serve as the successor document to the Implementation Blueprint 2012-2016.

Undersecretary Janet M. Lopoz, executive director of the Mindanao Development Authority (Minda), told reporters that it will be more challenging for the Philippines as it will chair the BIMP-Eaga during the pilot year of the implementation of the BIMP-Eaga Vision 2025.

“This coming February 23 to 26, Davao City will be hosting the BIMP-Eaga Summit- Strategic Planning Workshop session, it is very timely that we are hosting the event because Philippines will also be an incoming chair of the BIMP-Eaga, sometime in September and it will be an extra challenge for us because will be the chair at the time we will be implementing the new roadmap,” she said.

The four-day event will be an avenue for member countries to finalize and consolidate the final inputs of the new BIMP-Eaga Vision 2025.

“New in a sense that we have checked other progress of our projects vis-à-vis our targets for the last 6 years and we have seen that we have achieved much, we are set to plan out the enhancement of our BIMP-Eaga directions vis-à-vis Asean Integration and new development and prospects,” Lopoz said.

The event is expected to draw 200 delegates from the four member countries. The venue in Davao City is still being finalized.

Under the BIMP-Eaga Vision 2025 Tourism component, a proposal for a direct route between Bali in Indonesia and Davao in Mindanao is being eyed now by Minda to pilot “pockets of tourism loops.”

“Bali is an existing tourist destination which is generating a lot of tourism receipts and we wanted to get a percentage of that,” Lopoz said.

Another pocket of tourism loops which are also identified is Davao leading to the cultural communities in Lake Sebu in South Cotabato passing the T’boli cultural village in Davao del Sur, and Davao leading to Davao Oriental to the beaches of Surigao ,a possible community-based eco-tourism destinations.

At present, the Department of Tourism (DOT), Department of Transportation and Communication and, Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, and other supporting agencies are now in an ongoing negotiation with two different Indonesian Airlines for the Bali-Davao route as well as with Cebu Pacific which already have existing regular flights but through Cebu going directly to Bali.

“We’re looking on the possibility of having Cebu-Davao-Bali,” she added. Furthermore, the Philippines will also be proposing for connectivity of development corridors in Mindanao to other areas in the sub-region through improvement in infrastructure, inclusion of development of food hubs between Mindanao and other BIMP-Eaga nation members, and developments on socio-cultural aspect for the development of the sub-region.