“We’ve always wanted the growth of BIMP-Eaga to be market-driven and led by the private sector,” Cruz said. “The success of this growing region depends on the investments put up by private businessmen who want a slice of the action.”
She said business groups will submit their proposed venture projects to the three international funding agencies ADB, GTZ and AusAID for possible funding and technical assistance during the investment conference.
A number of investment projects in the Eaga will be up for review by the three international funding agencies during the two-day gathering, she said.
“I’m asking and encouraging everyone who have good projects to submit these to the DTI-NERBAC before the gathering so that we’ll have enough time to pre-match them with the right funding agency,” Cruz said. NERBAC stands for National Economic Research and Business Assistance Center with offices at the Department of Trade and Industry regional office along Monteverde-Sales street here.
Eaga came into being in the 1990s amid the economic boom in Asia led by tiger economies like Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand and other booming economies in Asia.
Unfortunately, the benefits of this Asian economic boom were barely felt by the poorer, less developed areas, which eventually banded together to form the Eaga.Eaga growth, however, was stunted when the 1997 Asian financial crisis hit the region.
To put the economy back on track, senior ministers and top officials from the four countries started meeting again and “recharted” the direction of the region and came up with new strategies in the new BIMP-EAGA Development Road map 2006-2010.
Cruz said the roadmap laid down various programs and projects to revitalize the growth of Eaga. “We want the private sector to come in and take advantage of the many opportunities we’re opening up for them,” she said. (Germelina Lacorte/davaotoday.com)
