ISABELA CITY, Basilan, Philippines (PIA) – Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) delegates to the recently concluded Sabah trade expo 2011 described their “first yet fruitful” participation in the exhibit that drew foreign interest on ARMM products.

In a press release, Roslaini Alonto-Sinarimbo, head of the Regional Economic Zone Authority and a member of the delegation, said Malaysian, Brunei and Indonesian business leaders expressed interest in importing fruits from growers in the autonomous region.

“They asked for details about the possibility of exporting fruits from ARMM,” Alonto-Sinarimbo said of trade leaders from the three partner-nations. She cited banana as among the importers’ preferences.

ARMM products and vast economic potentials were showcased in the BIMP-EAGA (Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines-East ASEAN Growth Area) Expo 2011, which was held from March 13 to 16. This drew the attention of business investors not only from the four-member economic cooperation group but also from other neighboring countries.

“The autonomous region’s main agricultural products such as bananas, pineapples, coconut derivatives and seaweeds as well as wood and textile handicrafts were displayed in the well-decorated ARMM booth,” Regional Executive Secretary Naguib Sinarimbo said.

Sinarimbo, who led the 10-member ARMM delegation, said it was the first time ARMM has participated in an international trade expo.

“Buoyed up by our achievements last year within the region, it’s now high time we move out into the international arena so that our economic prospects would be strengthened,” he said.

Sinarimbo added that ARMM’s economy has to be integrated into the BIMP-EAGA because “for both cultural and practical reasons, we cannot afford to neglect the opportunities for trade and tourism that Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia has to offer.”

BIMP-EAGA has a combined population of 550 million and a GDP that is third largest in Asia. The Borneo Island, where Sabah, Sarawak, Kalimantan and Brunei are situated, is very proximate to the island-provinces of ARMM.