Indonesia, Japan agree to expand economic partnerships
Jakarta, The Gulf Observer: The governments of Indonesia and Japan have agreed to expand both countries’ economic partnerships, including in the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) sector.
The agreement was marked by the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Indonesia’s Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprise Ministry and Japan’s Organization for Small and Medium Enterprise and Regional Innovation (SMRJ) in Tokyo, Japan.
“Hopefully, this MoU and meeting will encourage more Indonesian MSMEs and Japanese business actors to establish partnerships, especially in the promotion of MSME products to the global markets, supply chain, and startup development,” Cooperatives and SME Minister Teten Masduki noted in a statement received here on Monday.
The minister remarked that Indonesia and Japan had enjoyed long-standing partnerships in MSME development.
Masduki stated that his working visit to Japan was undertaken, with the objective of renewing the scope of cooperation between both nations to direct future partnership programs to become more focused on the development of several sectors, including MSMEs.
“Today, we came with 30 selected Indonesian MSMEs, who have running businesses in various sectors, such as automotive, health, food, and fishery. Some attended (the meeting) directly while some virtually,” he pointed out.
During his working visit, the minister also held a meeting with state-owned Japan Finance Corporation (JFC) in Temachi District, Chiyoda City, Tokyo.
During the meeting, Minister Masduki pointed out that MSME actors constitute the backbone of the national economies of Indonesia and Japan, highlighting the actors’ role in creating job opportunities as well as encouraging inclusive innovation, technology, and growth.
“In the post-COVID-19 pandemic era, we continue to push MSMEs to transform in the hopes of making them more resilient, adaptive, productive, and sustainable,” he noted.
The meeting with JFC served as a forum for identifying innovative and pragmatic measures to facilitate MSMEs’ financing and development as well as exploring cooperation, knowledge exchange, technology transfer, and activities to build MSMEs’ capacity.
Furthermore, at the meeting, both parties discussed about potential financing schemes for Indonesian MSMEs as well as opportunities for business-to-business (B2B) investment between Indonesian MSMEs with partnered Japanese companies.
