News From : DagangHalal.com (01 Apr 2010)
THE Bimp-Eaga Business Council (BEBC) will be promoting the private sector’s initiative to market their products outside the growth area, which covers provinces and states in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
The council said in a statement it will extend marketing assistance through trade fairs, business networking and road shows and through prominent online posting for greater market exposure.
The decision was reached during the recent Bimp-Eaga Senior Officials Special Meeting.
BEBC Brunei will be building a website called Bimp-Eaga Market Guide.com, which will serve as a guide for businesses in the virtual world.
The platform is also envisioned to later become a facility that will allow buyers and sellers to make transactions online. “Therefore the business will flourish within Bimp-Eaga and beyond,” the council added.
Thomas Koh, head of Transport, Infrastructure and ICT Development (TIICTD) Cluster, said they will be meeting on April 14 to further discuss details of the website. Assistance will come from the German Technical Corporation (GTZ), which is responsible for Bimp-Eaga’s re-branding during the most recent Asean Tourism Forum held in Brunei.
More infrastructure readiness for businesses in the Bimp-Eaga were being implemented from land, sea, air-linkages and cross border energy sharing were among the agenda highlighted during the meeting.
“Besides that, the niche market of Bimp-Eaga Halal Brand has become one of the top agenda, especially due to the high value of Halal certifications in tandem with the world health requirements in the poultry business,” the council said.
The findings of the technical studies show the high cost of chicken is in feeds, therefore, BEBC with development partners are looking for better solutions and feeds alternative in order to stay competitive while maintaining high market values.
Meanwhile, Brunei is making progress in developing a High Grade Halal Park to cater to International Halal Export Standard which will further enhance upcoming developments of Brunei International Airport.
During the meeting, tourism was among the topics discussed. Participants talked about the influx of tourists to Bimp-Eaga destinations.
“The Yacht Rally will become one of the major Eaga promotions besides Heart of Borneo (HoB) and Coral Triangle Initiatives (CTI) being the world largest,” it said.
BEBC Brunei officials were in Davao to attend the Board Director Meeting and a change of Chairman which was held on March 14 where outgoing Chair Berbino Vega Jr handed over the post to Andru Sibowo.
BEBC also attended the Bimp-Eaga Senior Officials Special Meeting on March 15 at the Palm Beach Hotel attended by National Secretariats, Senior Officials of Bimp-Eaga Countries and development partners GTZ and Asian Development Bank.
During the meetings, ADB (Asian Development Bank) agreed to extend technical assistance to enhance the existing website of BEBC by linking to the existing Bimp-Eaga Facilitation Centre (Bimp-FC) which has its head office in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.
The Monitoring Task Force Committee was set up to monitor the progress of the Flagship Projects already in the Bimp-Eaga Road Map 2006-2010.
Goh De No – The Brunei Times