Meeting to discuss triangle cooperation

JAKARTA (JP): Economic ministers and top businessmen from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand will hold a meeting in Lhokseumawe, Aceh, next month to discuss triangular cooperation between their neighboring territories, according to an Indonesian official.

Kosim Gandataruna, the chairman of the steering committee for the meeting, said yesterday that a number of important economic issues, such as investment incentives, will be discussed during the four-day meeting.

The meeting, which is scheduled for Sept. 30 to Oct. 3, will be the sixth held by the three neighboring members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to discuss their growth triangle cooperation plan.

Kosim said the Indonesian delegation at the meeting will include Coordinating Minister for Production and Distribution Hartarto, Minister of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications Joop Ave, Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto, Manpower Minister Abdul Latief and Minister of Industry and Trade Tunky Ariwibowo.

Kosim, a senior assistant to Coordinating Minister Hartarto, said that businessmen of the three neighboring countries will meet on the first day of the meeting.

Senior officials will meet on Oct. 1 and Oct. 2 to hammer out important topics, including possible incentives that could be granted by each participating country to stimulate the proposed cooperation, he said, adding that the results of the senior officials' meeting would be further deliberated in the ministerial meeting, which will be held on Oct. 3.

The Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand triangle, linking Indonesia's northern Sumatra, southern provinces of Thailand and western states of Malaysia, is the second sub-regional growth center established by ASEAN in the last five years.

The first cooperation agreement was the Indonesia-Malaysia- Singapore Growth Triangle (IMS-GT), linking Riau province, Singapore and the Johor state of Malaysia into an integrated economic center.

The latest subregional growth center is the Brunei-Indonesia- Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA), encompassing Kalimantan and Sulawesi of Indonesia, Sarawak of Malaysia, Brunei and the southern provinces of the Philippines. (hen)