Abstract

With the enactment of international free trade and economic agreements and cooperation, BIMP-EAGA is an opportunity to accelerate development and economic growth in eastern Indonesia. This subregional cooperation could be used to reduce the development gap or inequality between the western and eastern regions, which are geographically, demographically, and economically different. This cooperation also may accelerate development in the border area. This study analyzes Indonesia's policies related to connectivity in BIMP-EAGA subregional cooperation and its implementation. The study results show that the National Secretariat of Sub-Regional Economic Cooperation has encouraged cooperation clusters ranging from natural resources, transportation, infrastructure, ICT, and tourism to MSMEs. In terms of connectivity, Indonesia is also involved in the development program of three economic corridors, namely West Borneo, East Borneo, and Sulu-Sulawesi. Indonesia's involvement in the three corridors has boosted the connectivity of Indonesia's territory, especially border areas, with neighboring countries. Connectivity has covered not only physical but also institutional and people-to-people dimensions. However, there are still several challenges, ranging from the standardization of the Customs, Immigration, and Quarantine (CIQ) mechanisms, improvement of institutional quality, and consistent strong political will among the involved parties. In addition, considering the vulnerability of the BIMP subregion to transnational crimes and acts of radical terrorism, BIMP-EAGA needs to think about solutions to overcome these cross-border security problems so that the momentum of development in the subregion may be sustained.