SENIOR officials and cluster heads from Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-the Philippines-East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-Eaga) member-countries will visit the Philippines for the post Senior Officials Meeting, which will be held in Puerto Princesa, Palawan, on May 25 and 26.
This will serve as a follow-up activity of the 11th BIMP-Eaga Summit held at Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia, on April 28 to review the progress and implementation bottlenecks on priority programs and projects identified during the 2015 summit.
Trade Undersecretary Prudencio M. Reyes Jr., also the Philippine senior official, will be attending the post- senior Officials’ Meeting as part of his role in promoting the Philippines’s ties with other Asean nations in pursuit of achieving BIMP-Eaga deliverables.
“As the Philippine senior official, I have high hopes that this convention will encourage interaction and exchange of ideas among the participants to cover all areas of concerns and obtain substantive results at the end of the meeting,” Reyes said.
Senior officials and cluster heads will tackle 2nd Generation Priority Infrastructure Projects (PIPs), which include road projects, seaports and airports expansion for a stronger connectivity within BIMP-Eaga. Reviving air links between the Philippines and its Eaga counterparts is currently one of the priorities of the Mindanao Development Authority to maximize the travel-tax exemption approved by the Philippine government for travelers from Mindanao and Palawan heading to any of the BIMP-Eaga destinations. Currently, the Philippines has been enhancing its transport connectivity systems in BIMP-Eaga through strengthening the following transport facilities: Davao-GenSan-Bitung Shipping Service, Brooke’s Point Palawan-Kudat Roro service, and Davao-Manado air linkage.
“We are hopeful that agreements will be reached on the long-standing issue of BIMP-Facilitation Center so that we can fast-track the implementation of these priority infrastructure projects,” Reyes concluded.
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I hope they truly implement the travel-tax fee departures from Davao and Zamboanga airports, specially if its going to any destination in the ASEAN region, and I hope they revive the Davao-Manado and Kota Kinabalu air service too….