A draft strategic development plan for the IMT-GT for this period proposes the private sector be accorded privileges to distinguish it from private sectors in other subregions.

The draft plan was presented by Joint Business Council (JBC) chairman Abdul Rahman Maidin during a forum of governors and chief ministers held during the 20th IMT-GT Joint Business Council Meeting on Langkawi Island, which ended on Sunday.

The draft plan points out that provinces and states belonging to the IMT-GT currently receive the same treatment as other provinces and states outside the subregion, said Bernama.

The plan says that, given the fact that many of the constituent provinces and states under the IMT-GT are underdeveloped, IMT-GT provinces would not have special comparative advantages over the more developed provinces outside the subregion without some special treatment by the governments.

The draft plan also suggests that to be effective in motivating the private sector to take advantage of opportunities, governments need to consider more liberalised approaches and strategies. These could include granting concessions to develop economic and physical infrastructures, which are critical for stimulating private-sector participation.

Collaboration under the IMT-GT project began with 10 provinces and states in 1993 and now covers 25, with a total population 100 million.

During the past 13 years, considerable progress has been made in some sectors under the IMT-GT, particularly in promoting people's mobility and the growth of interregional tourism. This has come about despite a lack of special treatment accorded by the three relevant governments to the IMT-GT.

The draft says that although the leaders of the three countries have expressed a commitment to developing the subregion, there had been no special treatment other than policy pronouncements made during annual meetings for senior officials and ministers.

A major IMT-GT success has been the development of tourism, which has benefited Medan in Indonesia, Hat Yai and Sadao in Thailand's Songkhla province, and Penang in Malaysia.

Cross-border trading, particularly bartering, has expanded considerably, and the development of the transport sector is beginning to increase in importance with the expansion of regional air links, said Bernama. But more attention needs to be paid in the next decade to improving economic and physical infrastructures, and improving intra- and interregional and cross-border trade.

The Nation

LANGKAWI, MALAYSIA