NUSA DUA: Indonesian Ambassador to Asean, I Gede Ngurah Swajaya said that Indonesia would be the first country to benefit from Asean Infrastructure Fund (AIF), which would be introduced next year, Antara news agency reported.
Asean member states had agreed to begin using AIF to build six projects per year in the region.
“One of the priorities of the six infrastructure projects to be built starting 2012 was that they must interconnect maritime lanes and several ports in the region,” he said after attending Asean Senior Officials Preparatory Meeting (Asean SOM) held ahead of the 19th Asean Summit at Bali Nusa Dua Convention centre here.
He said the agreement on the use of AIF for Indonesia would later be brought to a meeting of Asean economic ministers for endorsement.
The project was the expansion of roll-on,roll-off shipping lanes which connected Davao in the Philippines to Bitung in North Sulawesi, Indonesia.
The shipping lanes would later be developed to cover several ports in Malaysia, Brunei and Thailand, Swajaya said.
The project would complement cooperation between Indonesia and the Philippines within the framework of BIMP-EAGA (Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area), he added.
AIF was formed in association with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in September this year, with an authorised capital of US$485.2 million consisting of US$335.2 million from Asean member states as capital participation, and US$150 million from the ADB. — Bernama