Phnom Penh, Cambodia (ANTARA News) - Indonesia hopes that the Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT) will receive funding from the ASEAN Infrastructure Fund (AIF).

Trade minister Gita Wirjawan said, after the IMT-GT meeting led by Vice President Boediono here on Wednesday, that the infrastructure development program in the three countries deserved AIF funding.

The AIF totals about US$485 million and will be distributed after discussions on its mechanism are completed this year, he added.

The funds come from the Asian Development Bank totaling US$150 million and the remainder, about US$335 million, from members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Wirjawan said during the meeting that a proposal had been made to give the IMT-GT projects a funding priority.

However, the projects must be familiarized with other ASEAN members to develop a sense of belonging to the projects.

"There was also a discourse on how the ADB could lend more support to financing and muster private sectors to participate in funding the projects," he said after the meeting, which was held on the sidelines of the 20th ASEAN Summit.

The IMT-GT is a sub-regional cooperation initiative to accelerate economic transformation in member countries` provinces that still lag behind.

The cooperation is aimed at improving the welfare and economic growth of the communities in the border regions of the IMT-GT member countries.

Parts of Indonesia that are included in the IMT-GT program are Aceh, Bangka-Belitung, Bengkulu, Jambi, Lampung, South Sumatra, Riau, Riau Islands, North Sumatra and West Sumatra.
(T.H017/H-YH/KR-BSR/INE/H-YH)

Editor: Priyambodo RH

COPYRIGHT © 2012

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