Jakarta The Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) and South Korea discussed the latter’s commitment to supporting development of the former’s region through a donation of US$4 million.

The fund, granted through the BIMP-EAGA and Republic of Korea Cooperation Fund (BKCF) mechanism, will be used to expedite economic recovery from the impacts of COVID-19.

“This donation is utilized to fund research, labor intensive programs, and capacity building projects,” Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs’ official, Edi Prio Pambudi, who led Indonesian delegations, noted through a statement on Saturday.

BKCF’s role had drawn a positive response from people in the region, as is reflected from the number of donation proposals being received, he pointed out.

“For the first-term funding with US$1 million, the US had received 67 proposals from the entire member countries of BIMP-EAGA,” he revealed.

The BIMP-EAGA lauded the Korean government and expects that the support can be bolstered and expanded for various projects, he remarked.

These projects comprise development of the electrical vehicle (EV) industry, logistics traffic bolstering, economic activity improvement, and labor intensive industrial development in sub-regions, he stated.

Source: Antara News