Mindanao Dev’t Authority (MinDA) Press Release
DAVAO CITY, Apr. 18, (PIA) - - Key airline chief executive officers (CEO) and tour operators from the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) converge in Davao City for a two-day summit which started yesterday, Apr. 17 and will go on till tomorrow.
Dubbed as the 1st Equator Asia Air Access Forum and Airline CEOs Summit, the gathering aims to bring together major players from the airline industry and tour operators from the sub-region to lay the groundwork for enhanced inter-connectivity between and among the EAGA focus areas including its word-class tourist destinations branded as “Equator Asia”.
“We are expecting more than a hundred delegates from the four-member countries of BIMP-EAGA”, said Secretary Luwalhati Antonino, Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) chairperson and the concurrent Philippine Signing Minister to BIMP-EAGA.
She said that connectivity has been a major challenge to the Philippines particularly Mindanao and Palawan noting that unlike the rest of the member countries of EAGA, “we are separated by the waters”.
“That is why we are pushing for more airline connectivity with them [Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia) so that there would be freer movement of people, goods and services within the sub-region”, she said.
Antonino added that the idea of creating the sub-grouping is to increase trade, tourism and investments in the EAGA focus areas.
“This can only be realized if efficient transport networks and infrastructures are in place”, she said.
According to Mr. Art Boncato, Department of Tourism Region 11 regional director, the summit is an opportunity to revive direct flights from Mindanao and Palawan to Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Boncato added that the Malaysia Airline, MASwings, and Garuda Indonesia are among the international airline companies who will be joining the summit.
Meanwhile, the BIMP-EAGA heads reaffirmed the significant contribution of the sub-region in the development of ASEAN connectivity during the recently concluded 8th BIMP-EAGA Leaders Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on 04 April which was attended by President Benigno Aquino.
The leaders reiterated the importance of connectivity advancements to the economic development and to narrowing the development divide within the sub-region.
“We commended the transport sector for moving the connectivity agenda forward”, the BIMP-EAGA leaders said in their joint statement.
The leaders urge relevant Ministries to extend special regulatory arrangements to entice entry of players in the air and shipping services within the sub-region.
BIMP-EAGA is an economic cooperation formally created in 1994, covering the entire Brunei Darussalam; 10 provinces in the Indonesian islands of Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluku and Irian Jaya; Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan in Malaysia; and Mindanao and Palawan in the Philippines.
The ASEAN sub-grouping is a mechanism primarily intended to spur development in the lagging sub-economies of the member countries by boosting intra-EAGA trade, tourism and investments.
MinDA serves as the Philippine Coordinating Office for BIMP-EAGA (PCOBE) under Republic Act 9996 otherwise known as the Mindanao Development Authority Act of 2010. (JPA/MinDA/PIA 9-ZBST)
