More provinces told to join growth triangle cooperation
More provinces told to join growth triangle cooperation
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia will propose the inclusion of more provinces in sub-regional cooperation projects involving other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to boost the provinces' readiness for trade liberalization in 2003.
"The involvement of more provinces in the sub-regional growth triangles is urgent because we have only seven years before the implementation of free trade among ASEAN countries," Coordinating Minister for Production and Distribution Hartarto told the press after meeting President Soeharto at the Merdeka Palace here yesterday.
ASEAN, which groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, will liberalize trade among its members under the ASEAN Free Trade Area arrangement by the year 2003.
Riau
Hartarto said that the President wanted the inclusion of Riau in the country's western sub-regional triangle of growth, which also involves Malaysia and Thailand.
The Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT) currently includes Aceh as well as West and North Sumatra in Indonesia, as well as the southern provinces of Thailand and western states of Malaysia.
Hartarto said Soeharto also wants Bengkulu, South Sumatra, Lampung and West Kalimantan to be included in the Indonesia- Malaysia-Singapore Growth Triangle (IMS-GT), which currently involves Johor Bahru, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang states in Malaysia, Singapore and the Indonesian provinces of Riau and West Sumatra.
The provinces of Central and South Kalimantan, Central, South and Southeast Sulawesi, South Sumatra, Maluku and Irian Jaya will also be promoted for involvement in the Malaysia-Philippines growth area, which currently includes West and East Kalimantan and North Sulawesi in Indonesia, the minister said.
He said Indonesia will propose the addition of its provinces in the sub-regional cooperation areas in ministerial meetings later this year and in 1997. (kod)