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Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan at the launch of the Indonesia With MSME Campaign on Saturday (April 4, 2021). ANTARA/HO-Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment

Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan has encouraged the public to purchase products manufactured domestically as a mark of support to micro, small, and medium-scale enterprises (MSME).

At the launch of Indonesia With MSME Campaign on Saturday, the minister noted that in 2020 alone, four million MSMEs had promoted their products through the online platform.

Thus, the number of MSMEs using the online platform reaches 13 million, and the ministry has targeted to increase the number to 30 million by 2023.

The campaign was conducted in line with the Proud of Indonesian Product Movement (Gernas BBI) centered in West Java in April 2021.

"This is a huge challenge for us. We also link it to the domestic content requirement and to use as many domestic products as we can. It will become the backbone of our economy," Pandjaitan, who attended the event virtually from Toba Samosir District, North Sumatra, emphasized.

The minister noted that of the total Rp1,300 trillion of capital expenditure, Indonesia managed to save Rp250 trillion to purchase domestic products"We can use this. I have reported it to President Joko Widodo, and he encouraged us to become more creative. We can reduce imports and create more jobs," he affirmed.

Pandjaitan has commended the Cooperative, Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises Ministry and lauded the support of Bank Indonesia and the West Java administration in holding the event.

The minister shared his optimism to achieving the target of onboarding 6.1 million MSMEs and 12 million users of the QR Code Indonesian Standard (QRIS) digital payment by 2021-end.

Attendees at the launch comprised Cooperative, Small, and Medium Scale Enterprises Minister Teten Masduki, West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil, Deputy Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Angela Tanoesoedibjo, and BI Governor Perry Warjiyo//ANT