On Friday, August 6, 2021, Mr. Arkhom Termpittayapaisith, Minister of Finance, in his capacity as Thailand’s IMT-GT Minister, attended the 27th Ministerial Meeting of the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT) via video conference. Dato’ Sri Mustapa Mohamed, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Economy) of Malaysia, chaired the meeting, along with Mr. Airlangga Hartarto, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, Mr. Ahmed M. Saeed, Vice-President of the Asian Development Bank, Dato Lim Jock Hoi, Secretary-General of ASEAN, Mr. Wanchat Suwankitti, Deputy Secretary-General of the National Economic and Social Development Council, as Thailand’s Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) Leader, together with senior officials and representatives from Malaysia and Indonesia, Chief Ministers and Governors, as well as representatives from the public and private sectors of IMT-GT member countries. The key points are as follows:
The IMT-GT Ministers from the three countries acknowledged the report on the implementation and activities throughout 2020-2021. Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, they were able to adapt and successfully carry out important activities. Significant progress was made on key projects, such as the development of a Customs, Immigration, and Quarantine (CIQ) cooperation framework to facilitate cross-border movement of goods and people in the area, preparation of pilot projects aimed at reviving the subregion’s tourism industry, formulation of a strategic plan for halal industry cooperation, and meetings to establish cooperation between rubber city projects and rubber industries of the three countries. Additionally, the five-year implementation plan for 2022-2026 was developed to serve as the next operational plan under Vision 2036, emphasizing development along economic corridors, private sector-driven growth, balanced growth, and guidelines for establishing cooperation with development partners.
Furthermore, the meeting was informed about the preparations for implementing the action plan of the IMT-GT Sustainable Urban Development Framework 2022-2026, which focuses on investments in energy efficiency, reducing pollution from the transport sector, and utilizing while conserving biodiversity. The total investment value is 5,370 million US dollars (approximately 179 billion baht). Thailand’s IMT-GT Minister commented that these issues are crucial for subregional development and align with Thailand’s direction in implementing the Bio-Circular-Green Economy (BCG Model) policy, as well as green city projects in Songkhla City Municipality and Hat Yai City Municipality, Songkhla Province.
Mr. Arkhom Termpittayapaisith also took this opportunity to present the government’s achievements, such as the “Phuket Sandbox” and “Samui Plus Model” projects to prepare for the country’s reopening to tourists and support economic recovery, as well as the “Khon La Khrueng” (Half-Half) project, which has played a crucial role in reducing the cost of living for citizens and supporting small and medium-sized businesses during the past period. At the same time, he emphasized the importance of increasing connectivity between tourist destinations in the subregion to accommodate the tourism sector, which is expected to recover after the COVID-19 pandemic subsides. Currently, Thailand has already developed airports in various areas of the South to support this, including Betong Airport in Yala Province, Krabi Airport in Krabi Province, Phuket Airport in Phuket Province, Samui Airport in Surat Thani Province, and Ranong Airport in Ranong Province.
On this occasion, the Ministers of IMT-GT member countries also witnessed the signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Langkawi UNESCO Global Geopark (Malaysia), Satun UNESCO Global Geopark (Thailand), and Toba Caldera UNESCO Global Geopark (Indonesia) via video conference. The objective is to promote cooperation and exchange best practices in protecting and developing local geotourism, as well as promoting cultural and tourism cooperation. This will lead to educational exchange activities and joint tourism marketing plans for these three geoparks.
In addition, the IMT-GT Ministers from all three countries, along with representatives from the Asian Development Bank and the ASEAN Secretary-General, jointly endorsed the Joint Statement on the results of the 27th IMT-GT Ministerial Meeting. They emphasized the importance of subregional cooperation to address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, promote the use of modern technologies in operations, and support the creation of an ecosystem conducive to digital transformation across all areas of cooperation. They also agreed to facilitate the development of new business models that respond to rapid changes in the new world, encourage various working groups to seek more in-depth cross-sectoral cooperation approaches in the future, and acknowledge private sector initiatives to actively engage with all IMT-GT working groups to achieve economic recovery goals in the post-COVID-19 era. In 2022, the Thai government will host the 28th Ministerial Meeting and other related meetings under the IMT-GT framework. If the COVID-19 situation improves, these meetings will be held in Phuket Province.
For more details, please refer to the meeting documents in this QR Code or at this link https://bit.ly/3yEm3kM
Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council
August 6, 2021
