Indonesia – Malaysia – Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT – GT)

                  The Indonesia–Malaysia–Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT–GT) was established in 1993 with the aim of promoting a growth area under a new trilateral scheme of sub-regional economic cooperation. Its focus is on investment, technology transfer, production cooperation and use of natural resources in southern Thailand, northern Malaysia and most of Sumatra Island. It also seeks to promote development of infrastructure and transportation linkages in the triangle area.

                   At present, IMT–GT consists of five southern Thai provinces (Narathiwat, Pattani, Satun, Songkhla and Yala); five northern Malaysian states (Kedah, Penang, Perak, Perlis and Selangor); and the Indonesia provinces on Sumatra Island (Aceh, North Sumatra, South Sumatra, West Sumatra, Bengkulu, Jambi and Riau).

                   The cooperation framework of IMT–GT has two functional mechanisms: the annual Ministerial Meeting and Senior Officials Meeting for the government sector, and the Joint Business Council for the private sector.

                   The National Economic and Social Development Board of Thailand (NESDB) is the designated IMT-GT focal point for Thailand, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the contact point for coordination with other member countries.

                    At the Eighth Ministerial Meeting held in Songkhla in March 2000, the Meeting agreed with Thailand’s proposed new strategy for economic cooperation contained in the paper “IMT–GT in Post-Crisis Southeast Asia: A Strategic Approach to Repositioning the Region” and set up a special task force to study its implementation.

                    At the Ninth Ministerial Meeting held in Medan in June 2002, the Meeting adopted a new economic cooperation strategy called “Seamless Songkhla–Penang–Medan Economic Corridor”. The meeting also identified 6 areas of cooperation and established an “Implementing Technical Group (ITG)” for each area of cooperation, as follows:
1. Infrastructure and Transportation (Lead country: Malaysia)
2. Trade and Investment (Lead country: Malaysia)
3. Tourism (Lead country: Thailand)
4. Halal Products and Services (Lead country: Thailand)
5. Human Resource Development (Lead country: Indonesia)
6. Agriculture, Agro-industry and Environment (Lead country: Indonesia)

                   On 3 April 2003, the Tenth Ministerial Meeting was held in Kangar, Perlis, Malaysia. The ITGs reported on progress in each area of cooperation. The Meeting agreed that all ITGs should draw up action plans to clearly map out their activities including a time-bound framework, targets and performance indicators to monitor progress. The Thai side recommended that IMT–GT should focus on five high-potential areas of cooperation, namely, the rubber industry, the palm oil industry, the halal food industry, tourism and energy, which can be developed through IMT–GT tripartite cooperation. The Eleventh Ministerial Meeting will be held in Pattani, Thailand in the first half of 2004.

                   The eleventh SOM and Ministerial Meeting under the IMT-GT framework were organized on the 24-26 August 2004 in Pattani province, Thailand. The most significant outcome from this particular meeting was the expansion of the IMT-GT area in which Thailand proposed the inclusion of Trang, Phatthalung and Nakhon Si Thammarat. Malaysia proposed the inclusion of Kelantan State. Indonesia proposed the inclusion of the whole Sumatra Island. The meeting also endorsed the proposition of Malaysia to invite Myanmar to the next Trilateral Business Council meeting as an observer under the IMT-GT + 1 concept. The success of this meeting indicates that many existing IMT-GT projects have progressed positively in all sectors and that many new projects were also proposed. Nevertheless, the member countries realized that there are still many existing projects that need to be approved and pushed forward by their governments such as the development of infrastructure, transportation linkages and relevant customs and immigration issues. The member countries agreed that the next IMT-GT SOM and Ministerial Meeting will be held in Riau province, Indonesia in 2005.    

                     The second IMT-GT Summit took place in the Philippines on 12 January 2007 and resulted in the adopted IMT-GT Roadmap (2007-2011). The JBC has targeted on the issues of trade, investment, and tourism by inducing the government sectors to amend their laws and regulations, entrusting the SOM/MM to the progression of Roadmap, and encouraging the governors/Chief Ministers to develop mutual strategies in order to ensure the success of cooperation. Meanwhile, the JBC also requested ADB to provide technical advices and funding for the IMT-GT projects.  

Economic Relations and Cooperation Division
Department of International Economic Affairs
August 2007