PART 2: WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE THE NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE EAST ASEAN GROWTH AREA?

I would think that in East ASEAN Growth Area (EAGA) as an economically-dependent region, the infrastructure-related development in sea-land-air transport, energy, water, information communications and pipelines could well be the first areas to benefit from the B&R initiative.

Please click on this link for the part 1 of this article at https://steemit.com/teammalaysia/@madeve/part-1-china-s-one-belt-one-road-initiative-any-significance-for-the-east-asean-growth-area

With better infrastructure and greater global connectivity, the 60 million lives in BIMP-EAGA (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines- East ASEAN Growth Area) expect to see a boost in demand for tourism-related services in industries such as food and beverage, hospitality, leisure and entertainment, shopping, education, and healthcare.

Would there be anything of the investment and business environment of China and BIMP-EAGA should be improved for strengthening the trade and investment cooperation between companies from China and BIMP-EAGA?

I would say yes there could be, as a business council player in EAGA, we should always try to encourage enterprises in BE and China to cooperate in developing ventures such as the halal food industry and fisheries for the international markets.

Another important focus here may also be on the development of a broad-ranging Innovation Strategy to build on existing works, to address remaining knowledge gaps, and above all provide a cross-disciplinary mutually-reinforcing package of policy elements and recommendations to boost innovative performance.

Despite the importance of innovation, BE faces some difficulties in the strengthening of performance in this area. Indeed, many BE countries have seen little improvement in productivity performance in recent years despite many opportunities being offered by the advent of globalization and new technologies, especially in information and communication technologies (ICT).

I guess from my perspectives, the need to conduct a mapping of the BE and China Innovation System reveals areas to improve with cooperation just like the relationship between Denmark and China. In order to identify areas for beneficial innovative cooperation between BE and China, there is a need for the establishment of a BIMP-EAGA Innovation Centre funded by China, to set out to perform a mapping of the innovative systems and value chains in the respective countries of BE and China.

The benefit could be - the mapping of the individual innovative systems – from basic research to commercialization. Selected technology areas receive special attention, and so do seven strategically appointed industries; biotechnology, new energy, high-end equipment manufacturing, energy conservation & environmental protection, clean energy vehicles, new materials and new generation IT.

There are two areas we can focus on;

I. Knowledge transfer

As China is very much on the lookout for technologies, it is recommended to strengthen the dialogue around this issue.

II. Commercializations

As the continued international growth of early innovation. The strengthening of the commercialization phase, - especially for the smaller sized companies to do programs like; innovation camps, innovation growth and incubation could be the way forward.

(@madeve is currently the presiding Chairperson for the Socio-Cultural and Education Cluster, BIMP-EAGA Business Council, Sabah Chapter. The views expressed here are the author’s own and do not represent that of her present and past affiliations.)