BIMP-EAGA to hold seminar in Manado

JAKARTA (JP): Businesspeople from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei Darussalam will meet in Manado, the provincial capital of North Sulawesi, later this week to promote business relations.

The businessmen grouped under the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia Malaysia-the Philippines-East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) will hold an economic seminar and trade exhibition in the four-day meeting which will open on Saturday.

BIMP-East ASEAN Business Council (BIMP-EABC) country director Datuk Hakim Thantawi said on Monday the business meeting was intended to boost economic development, especially in the eastern regions of Indonesia.

"We hope to make Manado the Indonesian business gateway in the eastern region," he said. The meeting will try to explore business opportunities for trade and investment, tourism and services, Datuk said.

Some 150 foreign businesspeople from the BIMP-EAGA members and the Australia-Indonesia Development Area (AIDA), as well as from Thailand, Korea, China-Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Canada and Argentina will also be participating.

More than 700 local small and medium enterprises will also join the meeting representing 13 provinces in Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluku, Irian Jaya, Nusa Tenggara and Bali.

"We are focusing on the small and medium enterprises because they were the ones who turned the wheels of economy during the crises," Hakim said.

BIMP-EAGA, one of sub-regional economic cooperation forums established by members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in March 1994, links Brunei, eastern Malaysia, the southern Philippines and eastern Indonesia.

A seminar will also be part of the four-day event and will feature Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Finance, and Industry Kwik Kian Gie and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab as keynote speakers. (10)