BIMP-EAGA Clusters and Working Groups

The clusters and working groups serve as the operating units that translate the strategic trusts of BIMP-EAGA’s priority sectors into projects.

Nine clusters support the five strategic pillars of Vision 2025.

The Agribusiness Cluster is under the Food Basket Pillar and has two working groups: Agro-Industry and Fisheries.

Five clusters are under the Connectivity Pillar: Transport, Trade Facilitation, Trade and Investment Facilitation, Information and Communication Technology, and Power and Energy Infrastructure. The Transport Cluster has three working groups: Air, Sea, and Land. The Trade Facilitation Cluster has four working groups: Customs, Immigration, Quarantine, and Security. The Trade and Investment Facilitation Cluster has two working groups: Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprise (MSME) Development, and Statistics and Database Development.

The other three clusters are named after the strategic pillars that they support: Tourism, Environment, and Sociocultural and Education.

The Sociocultural and Education Cluster has three working groups: Human Resources Development (HRD), Sociocultural and Education, and Youth and Sports Development.

The clusters comprise officials and representatives from local/state government agencies, and BIMP-EAGA Business Council (BEBC), representing the BIMP-EAGA participating countries of Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. Each country designates a high-level officer of its agency as the national cluster coordinator, who acts also as the head of delegation of the country in any cluster meeting.

The cluster is chaired by one of the countries’ head of delegates. Cluster leadership is rotated among the member countries every 3 years. The in-coming Country Chair serves as the Deputy Chair of the cluster. This is to ensure continuity, smooth transition of chairmanship, and having an alternate meeting Chair in the absence of the Cluster Chair. Non-core members, including but not limited to private sector and BIMP-EAGA development partners, may participate in the consultation session, at the discretion of member countries as deemed necessary. The working group may set up subsidiary working groups or Project Implementation Teams, as agreed by the cluster to implement specific activities.