VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Ministry of Trade disclosed to keep improving market access for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to compete with other similar products sold in the malls. One of them is by holding mall-to-mall exhibition 2018 with the theme “Indonesia Creative” which takes place at Kasablanka Mall in Jakarta on May 16-20, 2018. Director General of Domestic Trade at the Ministry of Trade, Tjahya Widayanti said in Jakarta on Thursday (May 17) that the mall is chosen as the location of the exhibition because it is likely to bring in a large number of visitors.

“Over the last a few years, we’ve always held Mall-to-Mall exhibitions. The goal is to raise groups of SMEs so that they can be recognized by the mall owners so they can enter the mall. Well that’s the first. The second one is to expand market access for the groups, because if they sell at the mall, this mall has a lot of visitors. The mall can be visited by hundreds of visitors every day. This is also a pretty good market yes. That’ why, we start at the mall,” Tjahya Widayanti said.

Tjahya Widayanti further remarked that mall-to-mall exhibition can motivate the business creators to increase the added value of their products through the utilization of local raw materials. Thus, the produced products will have a uniqueness that can compete with similar imported products that penetrate the Indonesian market through international brands. The selected SME players as the participants in this exhibition have been carried out based on quality, uniqueness, creativity, and innovation in producing high value handicraft art, and they are ready to compete in both domestic and international market. Mall-to-Mall 2018 is a commitment of cooperation between the Ministry of Trade and the Association of Indonesian Shopping Center Management (APPBI) with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on the Implementation of Small and Medium Micro Trade Exhibition at Indonesian Shopping Center on February 1, 2018. (VOI/Rezha/Trans by Rhm)