Manila (11 March) -- Upbeat with the prospects of the Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines- East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA), business chambers in Mindanao are pushing for more representation in the ongoing policy discussions and in various trade and investment initiatives within the sub-region.

Miguel Varela, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) chair, said business chambers under the umbrella of PCCI-Mindanao have started to revive their linkages with BIMP-EAGA stakeholders and help promote more cross-border exchanges and capital flow in the area.

"They (Mindanao business chambers) want to become active players again (in the BIMP-EAGA)," he said.

Most business chambers in Mindanao were relegated to the sidelines of the BIMP-EAGA affairs since 2004 following a conflict among leading business groups in the island.

But PCCI's affiliates, which lists at least 36 active groupings, have since regrouped under a reconfigured PCCI-Mindanao.

Varela said the PCCI leadership is fully behind the move and is currently considering designating Elena Haw, the group's vice president for Mindanao, as point person for the BIMP-EAGA.

Haw was part of the Philippine delegation that joined President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the 5th BIMP-EAGA Leaders Summit late last month at the Dusit Thani Resort Hotel in Hua Hin, Thailand.

"(BIMP-EAGA activities) have slowed down during the past years and I think we need to bring in some help," he said.

The BIMP-EAGA was launched in 1994 as a sub-regional grouping that focuses on the development of trade, investment and tourism potentials of the four countries through an integrated regional cooperation.

BIMP-EAGA comprises the entire sultanate of Brunei Darrussalam; the provinces of Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluku, and West Papua in Indonesia; the states of Sabah and Sarawak and the federal territory of Labuan in Malaysia; and, Mindanao and Palawan in the Philippines.

The sub-region is eyed as a major base in ASEAN for "high value-added agro-industries, natural resource-based manufacturing, high-grade tourism as well as non resource-based industries."