ADB study starts off new growth triangle
ADB study starts off new growth triangle
MANILA (AFP): The creation of a growth triangle comprising the
contiguous areas of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand can now be
realized with the completion of an Asian Development Bank (ADB)-
led study, ADB officials said here yesterday.
"The study is completed, the next stage is implementation,"
ADB Economist Myo Thant told reporters after a three-day
conference at the Manila-based bank, to finalize the report,
which will be submitted to representatives of all three countries
at a special meeting in Penang in September.
The report, which is more than 700 pages long, is aimed at
integrating the economies in North Sumatra and Aceh, southern
Thailand and northern Malaysia in a manner similar to the China-
Taiwan-Hong Kong growth triangle.
Noritada Morita, ADB programs director, said the program was
intended to bring the gross domestic product (GDP) growth to an
annual 7.2 percent in the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand growth
triangle (IMT-GT) over 10 years.
He could not estimate how high the GDP growth in the area was
at present but said areas included in the triangle generally
suffered lower economic growth than other parts of their
respective countries.
John Newton, a team leader of the study, said trade and
investment liberalization was "the center of our policy," but
admitted that not all of the recommendations were likely to be
adopted by the three countries.
William Thompson, an ADB senior counselor said the "focus has
been on policy constraints that would have to be removed to allow
trade and investment to flow more freely in the sub-region." He
did not specify the constraints.
The report includes both policy recommendations and various
project proposals in infrastructure, energy, industry,
agriculture and fisheries, that can be implemented both by the
governments and private sectors of the three countries.
The ADB officials would not say how much financing would be
needed in the short-term to implement the projects, but much of
it would have to come from the private sector, particularly
commercial and investment banks.