Indonesia promotes East ASEAN-RoK cooperation

Indonesia has approved 11 collaborative projects through the BIMP-EAGA - Republic of Korea Cooperation Fund (BKCF) scheme, the country’s Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs has said.

These projects are established at the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) Senior Officials Meeting (SOM), which takes place in Seoul on July 20. (Source: Antara)

As reported by the Indonesian national news agency Antara, the ministry’s Assistant Deputy for Regional and Subregional Economic Cooperation Netty Muharni highlighted the importance of improving the mechanism serving their implementation, particularly by monitoring and collaborating with other stakeholders, such as the Cluster/Working Groups (CWGs), BIMP-EAGA Business Council (BEBC), scholars, and governments of sub-regional areas.

Programmes to improve stakeholders' capacities are also deemed necessary so as to improve the quality of proposals and implementation, she added.

"We can extend this collaboration in all prioritised sectors of the BIMP-EAGA in the future, particularly those related to security and energy and energy transition which are now globally discussed," she said as quoted by Antara.

According to the official, in 2021-2022, the BKCF’s first and second round were conducted and had generated funds totaling 3.5 million USD. In 2023, the programme is once more hosted in an inclusive manner, covering connectivity, tourism, environment, agriculture, and fisheries sectors./.

VNA