DAVAO CITY โ In pursuit of strengthening the commitment and cooperation towards accelerating the socioeconomic growth and development of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), the Bangsamoro Planning and Development Authority (BPDA) and Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA), in partnership with the European Union through the Support to the Bangsamoro Transition (SUBATRA), conducted a three-day strategic joint planning and programming (JPP) workshop on February 27 to March 1, 2023 at Home Crest Hotel in this city.
In a message delivered by Director Melanie Indar of the BPDA, Director General Engr. Mohajirin T. Ali said that the partnership between MinDA and BPDA would accelerate BARMMโs socioeconomic and peace development, enhance business opportunities, and integrate development initiatives in the identified fields of cooperation in Mindanao, as well as the concerns for the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA).
โThis joint workshop is the recent evidence of our efforts in developing a thriving and resilient Mindanao, taking the fullest advantage of economic complementation,โ DG Ali said.
Furthermore, this workshop aims to brief the MinDA-BPDA technical working group (TWG) members and secretariat on the Mindanao Agenda, BIMP-EAGA, and 2nd Bangsamoro Development Plan 2023-2028.
For his part, Director Joey E. Recimilla of MinDA shared the agreements between MinDA and BPDA, underscoring the BIMP-EAGA, Mindanao corridors, interregional concerns, spatial planning, and official development assistance (ODA) coordination as focus areas of its partnership coordination. He also discoursed the adoption of strategies which include the JPP, policy development, and institutional building.
โWeโll be working on specific sectors. Connectivity, digital, power, food, agri-business, tourism, sociocultural, and of course environment, water,โ Dir. Recimilla stressed.
According to MinDA, BARMM has always been an important focus of MinDAโs development initiatives for Mindanao as it plays a strategic, historical, and cultural value in the Philippinesโ commitment and participation under the BIMP-EAGA and sub-regional cooperation.
โTruly, BARMM is the gateway of BIMP-EAGA because of its strategic location,โ said Jonathan Miral, Chief of MinDAโs International Relations Division.
Miral revealed that โBARMM is treated as one specific corridor.โ He further emphasized that all the regions in Mindanao are treated equally by MinDA, being the country secretariat for BIMP-EAGA.
Moreover, among the possible areas of coordination between BPDA and MinDA are the formulation of Bangsamoro Spatial Development Framework (BSDF) 2024-2050; strengthening the Sub-Committee on BIMP-EAGA and formulation of mini strategic plan for BARMM BIMP-EAGA; formulation of Bangsamoro Halal Development Plan; resource mobilization; investment programming through JPP; knowledge sharing, capacity development, and technical assistance for research database and knowledge management system development; support to existing researches and collaboration for the implementation of the Mindanao River Basin Master Plan; and formulation of Results-Based Monitoring and Evaluation (RBME) and Regional Project Monitoring and Evaluation System (RPMES).
As a confirmation of continuing support to BARMM, Keith Morgan, a public administration reform expert from the SUBATRA, shared that they are working to strengthen the Bangsamoro government including BPDA, Office of the Chief Minister (OCM), and BARMM ministries, offices, and agencies through improvement of processes and procedures and capacity building of staff.
โI am here to look, listen, and hopefully contribute too. We in SUBATRA are keen to see the proposed projects and where we can provide assistance until 2025,โ Morgan said.
He also stressed that โSUBATRA is very happy to support this important activity which will lay the groundwork for future cooperation between MinDA and the BPDA.โ (๐๐๐๐ฆ ๐ฟ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฟ๐๐-๐ฟ๐๐ ๐ก๐๐๐๐ ๐, ๐ต๐๐ท๐ด-๐ต๐ด๐ ๐๐)