VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Mar. 9 - Research on products and innovations must be oriented towards import substitution to support economic stability, Minister of Research and Technology, Bambang PS Brodjonegoro, has said.

"If we want a stable economy, we must not merely depend on imported products," said Brodjonegoro during a national working meeting of the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) here on Monday.

Indonesia has a huge number of people so its dependence on imported products is becoming a problem by disrupting the trade balance, he observed.

One way to increase the trade balance is to use more local products and boost exports, he said.

However, increasing the number of local products will led to a reduction in imports, so there must be import substitution through local products and it can be gained with the help of research on products and innovations, he pointed out.

"Decreasing imports does not mean we decrease the spending, but we can substitute our needs of imported products with local products," said Brodjonegoro.

Import substitution is strongly geared towards improving the use of local products (P3DN), he remarked.

The BPPT plays a significant role in the process of import substitution through reverse engineering, but updates, as well as modifications, are also needed, he pointed out.

"We must not only imitate, but make something new with competitive prices," said the minister suggested. (Antaranews)