​Excellency Aristotle B. Batuhan,

Undersecretary Department of Transportation and Communications of the Republic of the Philippines
Excellency Moh Iksan Tatang,
Secretary General for Transportation of the Republic of Indonesia
Excellency Datuk Abdul Rahim Bakri,
Deputy Minister of Transport of Malaysia
Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen;
Selamat Pagi, Magandang Umaga and a very good morning to you all.

It is a great honour and privilege for me to address the 6th BIMP-EAGA Transport Ministers Meeting today as your Outgoing Chairman. On this occasion, on behalf of the Government of His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam and the Brunei Darussalam delegation as well as on behalf of all the BIMP-EAGA delegations, I wish to express our heartfelt congratulation to the Government of the Republic of Philippines, particularly the Department of Transportation & Communications for hosting this very important event and to His Excellency Aristotle B. Batuhan, Undersecretary Department of Transportation and Communications of the Republic of the Philippines as the new Chairman for this meeting.I would also like to extend my sincere appreciation and gratitude to the Government of the Republic of Philippines, especially the organizing committee for the warm and generous hospitality accorded to me and my delegation since our arrival here in your beautiful city of Cagayan De Oro.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
BIMP-EAGA covers a land area of 1.6 million square kilometers and has a combined population of 57.5 million1. With that capacity coupled with our strategic location, the richness of cultures and abundance of natural and human resources, there is a vast potential for a strong synergy for economic growth and sustainable development. BIMPEAGA envisioned itself to become the Food Basket for ASEAN and the rest of Asia as well as the premier Ecotourism destination. To realise this vision, we have long since recognised that an efficient and integrated transport system is critical to increase cross-border trade,investment and tourism in the region. We also acknowledged that development in transport connectivity and infrastructure in BIMPEAGA would support the realization of the Brunei Action Plan (BAP) and the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity for the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by 2015.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,Since our inaugural meeting in 2006, we have seen significant progress in our transport sector which is eminent with the signing of the 4
transport MoUs. I think by now we are familiar with the names of these MoUs namely the MoU on the Expansion of Air Linkages; MoU on the Establishment of Efficient and Integrated Shipping Services, MoU on Cross Border Movement of Buses and Coaches and MoU on Transit and Inter-State Transport of Goods. However, there are constraints that hamper the full implementation of these MoUs. We are aware of these constraints and we have since directed our senior officials to work together to remove them or at least strive to minimize them so that we
could move forward to realise our goals. If I may recall, we have reiterated this issue again and again in our previous Joint Statements and we do acknowledge that there has been some positive development in some important areas such as the operation of the cross-border buses and coaches. However, there are notable challenges in some areas that need our immediate attention. I was made to understand that these challenges came from the difference in our procedural and legal frame work. We have committed ourselves to become the facilitator for the Private sector and the test bed for ASEAN in order to fast track the ASEAN initiatives. To achieve this, we need to have a more flexible approach in order to create a conducive business
environment for the private sector to invest in EAGA’s transport infrastructure and services. Therefore in the spirit of solidarity and cooperation, I urge our senior officials to put in greater efforts to expedite the full implementation of those MoUs.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
We also recognise that there are also various projects or measures undertaken by our transport sector to improve connectivity in the region– I hope these measures are complementary to the ongoing regional efforts to realize the Brunei Action Plan and the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity towards the creation of the ASEAN Economic Community by 2015. At the same time, I also believe that BIMP-EAGA should be unique and so as our initiatives too; initiatives that cater and accelerate the developmental needs of these four countries' “focus areas” which, except for Brunei Darussalam, are geographically distant from their national capitals but we are in strategic proximity to each other, in one of the world’s most resource-rich regions. In this regard, I am pleased to note that the TIICTD Cluster has come up with a proposed set of Guiding Principles that will help the cluster to be more focussed on the development and choice of projects as well as initiatives which are truly EAGA. I hope this meeting will endorse these proposed Guiding Principles so that our efforts can be streamlined and further accelerated.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
As Excellencies are aware, Brunei Darussalam is the Chairman of the TIICTD Cluster which comprises of the 5 Working Groups (WGs) namely, Air, Land, Sea, ICT and Telecommunications as well as the Construction and Construction Materials (CCM) WGs. It has come to my attention that although there have been progress made by the ICT and Telecommunications WG and the CCM WG, more could be done. These two sectors are important to support the ongoing transport initiatives.I think your Excellencies would agree with me that our Leaders2 directive and our decision to convene the BIMP-EAGA Transport Ministers Meeting have helped move the transport projects. It is my view that such forum is important to ensure that proposals by the WGs are acted upon and followed through. However the ICT and Telecommunications WG and the CCM WG have no similar high level reporting structure. I see a need to address this issue as undeniably the ICT and Construction sectors are critical in enhancing the connectivity within the BIMP-EAGA region and between BIMP-EAGA to the rest of the world. In this regard, I would like to propose perhaps the relevant BIMP-EAGA ministers responsible to these sectors to meet at the sidelines of their ASEAN Meeting. If this is agreeable, the proposal can be submitted to the BIMP-EAGA Ministerial Meeting (MM) to be reported to the Summit for consideration and further directives by our Leaders.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
As we know, our Leaders created BIMP-EAGA to be different from other regional groupings. The private sector is BIMP-EAGA’s engine of growth while the public sector is the enabler or facilitator of this growth. As we have reiterated in our Joint Statement last year at the 5th BIMP-EAGA Transport Ministers Meeting and as what our Leaders had also reiterated in their Summit meeting last year, there is a need for closer coordination and regular conduct of strategic dialogues with the private sector in order to identify the policy and regulatory reforms
needed to speed-up and facilitate the implementation of priority projects.I am pleased to note that there has been positive development made by our private sector this year with the conduct of the 1st BIMP-EAGA Transport, Infrastructure and ICT Private Sector Meeting held in June,2011. The private sector have came up with projects proposals and requests for our policy consideration in this meeting today which I believe the Chairman of the TIICTD Cluster will further brief us later. I am also pleased to note the implementation of private-sector led projects to enhance inter-connectivity within the sub-region, in particular the “Intelligent Clearance Identity (iCLID) System Project”which aimed to ease and facilitate crossborder movement of vehicles,people and trade.It is this kind of participation and efforts that the Private sector should continue to build on and we, the Government, should encourage, support and facilitate. I therefore urge our Private sector and our transport officials to intensify discussions on initiatives that would strengthen public-private partnerships, and to identify measures and actions to intensify transport facilitation, accelerate the liberalization and healthy competition in the transport services, enhance seamless logistics services, and promote private sector investments in transport infrastructure and services.

Ladies and Gentlemen;
Before I conclude and officially handover the Chairmanship, I would like to express our deepest appreciation and gratitude to all Ministers and EAGA officials for the cooperation and support given to Brunei Darussalam during our chairmanship that made the 5th BIMP-EAGA Transport Ministers Meeting a very fruitful meeting. I hope that the same or even stronger cooperation and support will be extended to our new Chairman. I wish our new Chairman, His Excellency Aristotle B.Batuhan, Undersecretary Department of Transportation and Communications of the Republic of the Philippines, all the best.With that, it is my pleasure and privilege to officially handover the Chairmanship of the BIMP-EAGA Transport Ministers’ Meeting to His Excellency Aristotle B. Batuhan, Undersecretary Department of Transportation and Communications of the Republic of the Philippine.

Thank you.
Terima kasih.
Maraming Salamat.