RP, Brunei agree to reinvigorate economic zone

RP, Brunei agree to reinvigorate economic zone

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (AFP): Brunei and the Philippines are to work together to reinvigorate a special economic zone covering provinces near their maritime borders as well Indonesia and Malaysia.

Philippines President Gloria Arroyo, on the second day of a visit to the oil-rich Sultanate, agreed to relaunch the project during talks with Brunei's ruler, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, according to Philippine sources.

Before departing Manila on Wednesday, Arroyo said one aim of her visit to the oil-rich country was to seek Sultan Hassanal's support for the East ASEAN Growth Area involving the contiguous provinces of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, or BIMP-EAGA.

Efforts to bring the growth area into fruition were scuttled by the Asian financial crisis in 1997 and 1998.

"My delegation and I express our faith in his majesty's leadership for the active revival of BIMP-EAGA, not only at a sub-regional level but also at a bilateral level," Arroyo said in a speech late Wednesday during a royal banquet in held in her honor.

Both leaders acknowledged the importance of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), especially amid the global economic slowdown.

"ASEAN countries have not fully recovered from the regional financial crisis, and are now faced with the prospect of a global economic slowdown," the Brunei leader said.

"As such, ASEAN's unity has become even more critical," he said.

"The Philippines and Brunei ... should work together with other ASEAN members to strengthen regional cooperation and resilience," he added.

Arroyo said ASEAN was also important for Manila because the grouping is playing a role in the peaceful resolution of conflicting claims to the Spratlys island chain in the South China Sea.

ASEAN members Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam have laid conflicting claims to the islands along with China and Taiwan.

ASEAN has been working to reach a code of conduct with China to ease tensions in the Spratlys, where all claimants except Brunei have stationed troops on islands that they claim.

On Thursday, two Brunei corporations signed agreements with two Filipino firms associated with the Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell, Filipino officials said.

One accord calls for joint oil exploration and the other involves training Filipino staff to run a natural gas pipeline that will run from the western Philippine island of Palawan to the main Luzon island.

An agreement covering chartered flights between Brunei and the Philippines is expected to boost tourism, the officials said.

Brunei has also expressed initial interest in participating in a consortium to jumpstart the Philippines' fledgling petrochemical industry.