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Indonesia echoes MSMEs empowerment, climate change handling in Asia Pacific
Minister of Communications and Informatics Johnny G. Plate said President Joko Widodo has invited all countries in the region to solidify cooperation to push inclusive empowerment of the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and sustainably handling the climate change impact for collective benefit.
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Collective measures: The location of APEC country members on a map. (Kompas.com)
M
inister of Communications and Informatics Johnny G. Plate said President Joko Widodo has invited all countries in the region to solidify cooperation to push inclusive empowerment of the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and sustainably handling the climate change impact for collective benefit. The statement was made during the Business Advisory Council (ABAC) of the 2021 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit, which was held virtually on Thursday (11/11/2021).
“During the discussion forum on inclusivity and sustainability, the president has encouraged Asia Pacific countries to strengthen cooperation on two important matters. First is on economic recovery through the inclusive MSMEs empowerment. Secondly, handling the climate change impacts sustainably,” Johnny said.
He then added that those two goals should be the collective goals for the Asia Pacific countries. Indonesia, he went on, has witnesses that the rise of the MSMEs has contributed to encouraging economic recovery and people’s empowerment. At the same time, more collaboration on climate change handling were required so that it could be done side by side with the social economic recovery agendas.
The MSMEs inclusive empowerment
The enhancement of MSMEs empowerment has been pivotal to speed up inclusive economic recovery. The roles of MSMEs activities were not only treated as a safety net for people with low income but also absorbed huge number of workforces. In 2019, the MSMEs had contributed 52 percent to the Asia Pacific’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and managed to absorb 50 percent of workforces. In Indonesia, the MSMEs has also been proven to have significant roles in creating inclusive work opportunities for the people. It could be seen from the fact that 64 percent of the MSME actors were women. Meaning that the MSMEs empowerment has been very inclusive and therefore considered as part of the domestic women empowerment movement.
“We all know that the Indonesian MSMEs have also become the backbone of the country’s economy. Therefore, the government has been giving outmost support, in the form of various programs, policies, capital assistance and accompaniment to leverage the MSMEs and recovering from the pandemic,” Johnny said.
President Joko Widodo has confirmed that the financial inclusivity enhancement has become the country’s priority. In doing that, Indonesia has channelled soft loans and financial assistance of more that US$ 4 billion to 17.8 million of MSMEs and individual business activities that have been affected by the pandemic in 2021. The government still struggled to support the MSMEs’ digital transformation during the pandemic. Now, 8.4 million of MSMEs in Indonesia were recorded to have entered digital ecosystem, including 54 percent of them, which were owned by women.
The Asia Pacific MSMEs digitalization could be soon become collective reality but it would need digital infrastructure development, inclusive digital connectivity extension and the MSME’s actor digital literacy enhancement.
On the climate change handling sustainability, Johnny went on, “President has highlighted that the handling on climate change impact must be done in balance with the social and economic development, to fulfil the sustainable development’s target.”
Forest conservation and ocean wealth, and the transformation toward new and renewable energy must benefit the lower-class communities. The transition toward low-carbon economy must be done in a fair and collaborative manner. Funding support and environmental-friendly technology transfer were required to support the climate change mitigation actions in developing countries. Indonesia has placed its green and sustainable industry investment as one of the top priorities.
Indonesia’s project priorities, among others, consisted of the green industry region development, the supply chain development of battery to the electronic vehicle (EV) industries, and the carbon trading, which has huge potential. Therefore, for those purposes, Jhonny said the president has been inviting investors and other businesspeople from the APEC region to boost synergy and make benefit from Indonesia’s huge potential.
“Indonesia has huge potentials, in terms of natural resources and also workforces.”
“With the strategic and wise utilization, it is expected that it could contribute optimally to Indonesia as well as world communities, by prioritizing environmental-friendly and sustainability factors,” Johnny said.
