BEC eyes more ‘Made in Borneo’ products

KUCHING: The Borneo Economic Community (BEC) wants to see more products carrying the ‘Made in Borneo’ identity and competing in regional and global markets.

BEC co-chair M. Arsjad Rasjid said such products should reflect Borneo’s unique identity, resources, creativity and capabilities while creating greater economic opportunities and better livelihoods for its people.

“We want to see in the years ahead, more products that can carry the name, ‘Made in Borneo’,” he said during the 2nd Borneo Economic Forum gala dinner at Hilton Hotel here on Wednesday (Oct 7).

He said achieving this ambition would require stronger cooperation across borders, sectors and, most importantly, among the people of Borneo.

Arsjad delivers his speech.

“The region had significant opportunities in areas including energy, connectivity, digital transformation and industrial development,” he added.

However, he stressed that these opportunities could only be fully realised through greater cooperation between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.

“BEC would play an important role as a business-led and inclusive platform bringing together chambers, companies, industry associations, communities and other stakeholders across the three countries.

“Our objective is to identify and develop real business cases for Borneo, turning the island’s potential into concrete opportunities, investments, partnerships and jobs,” he said.

Arsjad said he was encouraged by the outcomes of the forum’s roundtable discussions, which had gone beyond the exchange of ideas.

He said participants had begun discussing specific projects, identifying potential business focal points and considering timelines for implementation.

“Our challenge is to keep the momentum going. We want to see real progress on this initiative over the coming years so that when we meet again next year in 2027, we can come back not only with more ideas, but with results,” he said.

Arsjad also said the signing of several cooperation agreements with BEC partners, alongside the upgraded Statement of Cooperation for the Borneo Economic Community, marked an important step in strengthening the platform and giving greater structure to its shared efforts.

He said the upgraded BEC was intended to make the community more inclusive, representative and more capable of delivering results.

To support this, he said BEC also intended to establish a stronger secretariat to facilitate continued dialogue, coordinate initiatives and ensure the momentum generated by the forum continued beyond Kuching.

“The forum’s business agenda would continue with a business-to-business matching session the following day, allowing businesses from across Borneo to further develop connections and explore potential collaborations,” he stated.

He also announced that BEC would convene the third Borneo Economic Forum in 2027, with Nusantara, East Kalimantan, Indonesia becomes the next host.

“We are beginning to feel it is like an Olympic Games. Everybody wants to host the next one. That’s a good energy,” he said.

He called on participants to leave Kuching with a commitment to not only discuss Borneo’s future but to help build it through action.

“Let us leave Kuching with a commitment. A commitment not only to talk about the future of Borneo, but to help build it with action, action, and action,” he said.