VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Cooperative and Small-Medium Scale Enterprises Minister AAGN Puspayoga has called on the International Council for Small Business (ICSB) Indonesia to develop export-oriented small and medium-scale enterprises. "ICSB should focus on the export market, as it has an international marketing network," Puspayoga said in a statement Jakarta Friday.

The minister made these remarks at a limited meeting on SMEs and a working meeting of ICSB Indonesia in Denpasar, Bali.

Puspayoga recalled that the government had implemented a strategic program of Import Tax Waiver for Materials for Export Oriented Goods (KITE) that annuls import taxes and other tariffs for export-oriented small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

"Zero percent of import taxes, and zero percent of export tariffs," he noted.

The minister quoted the example of SMEs in Bangli and Denpasar, and SMEs in Boyolali, Central Java which have already been developed into export-oriented enterprises.

"I hope that the ICSB and all SMEs in Indonesia can reap the benefits of KITE," the minister said.

Meanwhile, Chairman of ICSB Indonesia Hermawan Kertajaya said the council's special meeting brought the main agenda of the policymaker's brief, to gather information on ministries/institutions' policies to strengthen Indonesian SMEs.