The Asia Development Bank will assess the potential of the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle, a largely ignored special economic zone which so far has been slow to show any progress on common goals, including in tourism.
KUALA LUMPUR- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will be commencing a study on the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle‘s (IMT-GT) Special Border Economic Zone (SBEZ) scoping study in January next year.
“The scoping study will define the terms of reference for the future in-depth study and identify potential sources of financing and the findings and recommendations of the study will be reported at the Leader’s Summit in April 2014,” said a joint media statement of the 19th IMT-GT Ministerial Meeting in Koh Samui, Thailand.
The statement was released to Bernama on Saturday. Malaysia was represented by Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Razali Ibrahim.
The statement is first looking at boosting the maritime connectivity in the region, especially about developing the Melaka (Malaysia)-Dumai (Riau in Indonesia) vessel connectivity project in the IMT-GT.“And look forward to Melaka’s progress in developing the project that will enhance maritime connectivity in IMT-GT and Asean region,” it added.
The meeting also took note of the Belawan-Penang-Trang route, which was proposed as another critical maritime route.
IMT-GT is a sub-regional cooperation initiative formed by the governments of the three countries in 1993 to speed the economic transformation in their least-developed provinces.
The cooperation further seeks to promote the welfare and economic growth of the people living in the areas covered by the IMT-GT.
The IMT-GT currently consists of 14 provinces in Southern Thailand (Krabi, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Narathiwat, Pattani, Phattalung, Satun, Songkhla, Trang, Yala, Chumphon, Ranong, Surat Thani, Phang Nga and Phuket), eight states in Malaysia (Kedah, Kelantan, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, Penang, Perak, Perlis and Selangor) and 10 provinces in the island of Sumatra in Indonesia (Aceh, Bangka-Belitung, Bengkulu, Jambi, Lampung, North Sumatra, Riau, Riau Islands, South Sumatra, and West Sumatra).
So far little concrete has been done in terms of tourism or infrastructure despite common history and common cultures. The ADB study is a first step at a time of ASEAN single community is slowly becoming a reality…
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
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