BIMP-EAGA: Bridging Middle East and Southeast Asia

The Middle Eastern countries, with their ‘Look East’ policy and the growing instability in the region, have been interested in strengthening ties with Asian countries. ASEAN is not an exception. In recent years, ASEAN-Middle East relations have experienced a noticeable growth not only in the economic realm, but also in political and military spheres.

ASEAN’s geographical position and its growing economy have attracted the Middle Eastern countries to expand their partnership. Besides an alluring target for investments, ASEAN, as one of the world’s highly populated regions, is an enticing consumer market for Middle Eastern exports. At the same time, its strategic location offers the countries of the Middle East an opportunity to strengthen their presence in the wider Asia-Pacific region.

With no sign of an end to the instability in the Middle East and the fierce competition between US, China, and European powers, the Middle East is likely to continue to strengthen its cooperation with alternative partners and ASEAN seems to be on the list. In this context, there is one opportunity for the Middle Eastern countries to strengthen its footholds in ASEAN: The sub-regional initiative.

As an attempt to speed up the process of economic integration and to solve various developmental issues in a geographically multilayered region, ASEAN has established subregional initiatives based on geographic proximity which are hoped to tackle developmental gaps, while at the same time increase connectivity and international coordination.

The first ASEAN’s subregion was the Indonesia-Malaysia-Singapore Growth Triangle (IMS-GT), which was established in 1989 to boost economic linkages between these countries. It was followed by the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) in 1992 which was specifically founded to develop the Mekong River. One year later, in an effort to expand the labor-intensive industries in northern Malaysia to the surrounding less developed regions, the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT) was launched. In 1994, the Brunei Darussalam–Indonesia–Malaysia–Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) was launched with the aim of co-developing the less developed regions within the four maritime nations of ASEAN.

Many countries around the world have tried to strengthen partnerships with these subregions. South Korea, for example, has developed strong ties with GMS since 2010 and their partnership has been upgraded to a “strategic partnership” in 2020. At the same time, China, as one of the earliest non-ASEAN countries to engage with BIMP-EAGA, has stepped up in recent years with various initiatives such as the Framework of Cooperation document, which affirms its role as a ‘strategic development partner’ and with the Plan of Action for BIMP-EAGA China Cooperation 2020–2025.

The Middle East should also seek to establish partnership with these subregions in strengthening its footholds in ASEAN. BIMP-EAGA, in particular, can be the starting point.

BIMP-EAGA covers Brunei and parts of Malaysia (Sabah, Labuan, and Sarawak), Indonesia (Kalimantan, Maluku, Papua, and Sulawesi), and the Philippines (Mindanao and Palawan). Although these areas are geographically distant from national capitals, they are strategically close to each other. The initiative is aimed to elevate socio-economic development in these remote areas through regional cooperation.

Although the initiative showed small progress in the early years due to the 1997-1998 Asian Financial Crisis, since the beginning of 2000s BIMP-EAGA has gained stronger ground. In 2003, its intergovernmental coordinating body, the Facilitation Center, was established. Additionally, BIMP-EAGA Leaders’ Summits have been regularly held ever since. It has also effectuated three major documents which have guided its development: Roadmap to Development (2006-2010), Implementation Blueprint (2012-2016) and BIMP-EAGA Vision 2025 (2017-2025). These documents laid out BIMP-EAGA’s ‘strategic pillars,’ its major economic sectors and crucial projects that would help realize the BIMP-EAGA vision for a “resilient, inclusive, sustainable, and economically competitive subregion.” Follow-up development projects have been actively executed
over these years.

Geopolitical Monitor