"The IMG-GT regional cooperation would hopefully be used by Bangka Belitungs government, so it would help to improve the region and boost the economy," Regional and Sub-Regional Economic Cooperation Assistant Deputy of the Indonesian Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs Netty Muharni noted in Pangkalpinang on Tuesday.
She stated that the IMT-GT could enhance economical cooperation between regions, drive economic growth and development, and improve local potential and readiness to face the free market era.
"The IMG-GT covers 10 provinces in Sumatra Island, eight states in the Malayan Peninsula, and 14 provinces in Thailand, so the investment potential to improve the economy is pretty high," she explained.
According to Muharni, the IMT-GT is prioritizing the development of agriculture, industry, tourism, infrastructure, and connectivity.
"Under the IMT-GT regional cooperation, a connectivity development plan worth US$47 billion for Sumatra Island has been prepared to be implemented during the period between 2017 and 2021," Muharni noted.
Muharni said the local governments role in the IMT-GT cooperation is to ensure that cooperation and investment proposals are made in line with the provinces potential and policy, the projects implementation is overseen, and all information on the cooperation and hindrances faced are reported.
Meanwhile, Bangka Belitung Local Secretarys Economic Bureau Head Sudarman said that under the IMT-GT cooperation, the province has great products to offer in areas, such as agriculture, marine and fisheries, tourism, industry, mining, and commerce.
"We have assessed that if local specialty products are optimized during the IMT-GT, it would have a positive impact on the peoples economy due to the high investment value," he added.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2017
