BIMP-Eaga eyes single rate to boost trade

VG Cabuag / BusinessMirror , MONDAY, 23 FEBRUARY 2009 01:50 

COUNTRIES in the East Asian Growth Area (Eaga) would like to adopt uniform rates in vessel and port charges for all ports in the subregional trade bloc as a way to boost trade. 

Vicente Lao, BIMP (Brunei Indonesia Malaysia Philippines)-Eaga country director, said in an interview his group would also discuss ways on how to facilitate trade, including harmonization of customs procedures, intelligence, quarantine and security, or CIQS. 

“It’s BIMP-Eaga against the world. BIMP-Eaga is adopting the CIQS in order to boost our competitiveness against the world,” Lao said, adding that they are talking with authorities in the region to support both programs. 

“The intention is to distribute growth areas within the region tailor-fitted for the member-economies to complement trades from China, Europe, the Middle East and Europe,” he added. 

An agreement on the CIQS with the four countries is in its final stages and may be signed within the year. The group is still coordinating with port authorities on the uniform port rates and charges, he said. 

BIMP-Eaga offers trade potentials with the vast natural resources owned by its member-countries. Since its inception, however, trade among member-nations remains low due to a lack of investor interest and complementary initiatives from the other areas close to the region. 

This has prodded economists and other logistics experts to say that expanding the local system of roll-on, roll-off ports to Southeast Asia may be more viable for an archipelagic country like the Philippines than others in BIMP-Eaga. 

According to Enrico Basilio, director of CRC Transport and Logistics Institute, expanding the country’s Strong Republic Nautical Highway to Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries can benefit the Philippines since the country is strategically located in the middle of almost every country in the region. 

“This is just a concept. We haven’t done the real analysis yet but I think this should be more viable for us,” Basilio said. 

Some camps have said the trade bloc has little success since the four nations are growing at almost the same pace in terms of agriculture output and mining the same minerals. 

Lao admitted that after 14 years, trade in the region is for now insignificant, but said he believes that trade will rebound once the CIQS is adopted and put in place. 

The products traded from the region are coal, seaweeds and agriculture products from Indonesia; tuna, bananas and pineapple from the Philippines; timber and palm oil from Malaysia; and petrochemicals from Brunei—the central financial district of the BIMP-Eaga. 

BIMP-Eaga is also looking at putting up a power plant in Indonesia to supply other member-countries via submarine cable and address demand in the region. 

The member-countries are also looking at luring more shipping services between Eaga strategic transshipment points and lowering the cost of air and sea passenger services. 

BIMP-Eaga was launched in 1994 as a strategy of participating governments to hasten economic growth in less-developed and remote territories.