Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand have continued their cooperation in the economic sector through the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT) at the Ministerial Meeting in Phuket, Thailand, on September 15 and 16, 2022. In the meeting, the three countries signed MoUs and several agreements focusing on infrastructure and tourism.
IMT-GT is a cooperation project among Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand that provides a sub-regional framework for promoting economic cooperation and integration among the three nations. The collaboration supports private-sector-led economic growth and helps sub-regional development by using the member nations’ inherent complementarities and comparative advantages.
Indonesian Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita represented Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto, as the Indonesian Signing Minister. Malaysia was represented by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Economy Dato’ Sri Mustapa Bin Mohamed, and Thailand was represented by Minister of Finance Arkhom Termpittayapaisith.
Developing tourism and trade
The meeting focuses on the development of tourism and trade, increasing investment and overcoming unemployment after the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes Priority Connectivity Projects (PCPs), which are priority projects to support inter-regional connectivity and support economic growth. These projects include roads, ports, airports as well as Information and Communication Technology (ICT). To ensure sustainability and inter-regional connectivity in the IMT-GT cooperation, the economic corridor approach is carried out.
“In the future, projects under cooperation will be directed to support points in the existing economic corridor. Currently, there are five Economic Corridors that connect the main points between regions in the three countries. There is also another proposal to add one new corridor which will focus on sea connectivity,” Hartarto explained recently.
During the meeting, several agreements were ratified through the 2022-2026 Document IMT-GT Blueprint, Implementation of the 30th anniversary of IMT-GT Cooperation in 2023 and IMT-GT Visit Year 2023-2025.
Cooperation in rubber industry
There was also a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing on IMT-GT Rubber Cities and Rubber Industry Cooperation to strengthen cooperation in rubber industry. The signing was carried out by Echelon 1 officials, namely the Director General of Resilience, Territorial and International Industrial Access (KPAII) of Indonesia’s Ministry of Industry, Chief Executive of the Northern Corridor Implementation Authority of Malaysia and Governor of the Rubber Authority of Thailand.
In addition, the ministers welcomed India as a new IMT-GT cooperation partner as the cooperation is highly related to rubber cities and rubber industry. As of late, India has seen rapid expansion in its rubber sector. In 2021, India’s rubber usage climbed by 22%, with both natural and synthetic rubber being used more often. The worldwide demand for rubber also increased in 2021 by 11%.
