ARMM readies standards, protocols for Bangsamoro investors

COTABATO CITY -- Investment officials of the autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) are preparing business investment standards and protocols for the Bangsamoro specific investments.Lawyer Ishak Mastura, ARMM Regional Board of Investments (RBOI) chairperson, said ARMM is embarking on a Project Brokering Business Investments in the Bangsamoro to achieve Inclusive Development and Growth (BRIDGe)aimed at developing aBangsamoro-specific business investment standards and protocols that will empower both the communities and businesses to engage into sustainable business enterprises. Mastura said the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) and Hineleban Foundation in collaboration with the RBOI-ARMMwill be implementing the BRIDGe Project which is being funded by the Australian Government – Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).The formal partnership among the players of the project was sealed today at the ARMM Manila Liaison Office in Makati City through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the ARMM Regional Government (ARG) through RBOI and PBSP. The MOU cites the roles and areas of cooperation of the project implementers for the successful implementation of the project. Last week, PBSP conducted a Development Partners’ Meeting with the Program Advisory Committee (PAC) to generate inputs on the formulation and finalization of the Business Sustainability Framework in Bangsamoro (BSFB) and how to improve project implementation. The BSFB seeks to define the role and behaviour of corporations and partner communities who wish to make sustainable and responsible agribusiness investments in the Bangsamoro.Mastura said part of the project outcome is to strengthen the capacity of RBOI to facilitate business Investments in the ARMM, help capacitate local communities to engage in business development and to promote business investments in the region among local and international investors. The project is very relevant and timely because this will prepare us especially on the business aspect from a possible transition from the present form of government to federalism which what the Duterte Administration is pushing now in congress, Mastura said in a statement. ARMM Regional Governor Mujiv Hataman witnessed the MOU signing, saying the partnership is expected to fuel more investments in the provinces of Maguinanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, the provinces that comprised ARMM. In line with the initiative of President Duterte to promote and encourage business investments from big businesses and tycoons to the ARMM, this project will enhance the capacity of our communities in the to receive those investments, Hataman said.