The Chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), Arsjad Rasjid, together with several officials of Kadin Indonesia today met with the Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs, Teten Masduki, at the Smesco Building in Jakarta. The meeting discussed a number of issues and challenges for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), including synergies to increase capacity and exports as well as protection of MSMEs, including through the newly formed illegal import task force based on Minister of Trade Decree 932 of 2024 concerning the Task Force for the Supervision of Certain Goods Subject to Import Trading System.

"In the meeting, Kadin has conveyed many inputs on how we can develop strategies to increase MSME exports. Kadin has a Business Matching approach, which is B-to-B (business to business). I think this is appropriate. We also have the same programme. So we aim for potential markets, and see which ones in the country have the potential to be brought out,’ said Teten after the meeting.

Teten also revealed that the meeting with Kadin Indonesia also discussed the synergy between Kadin and the government in job creation. "This can be two things. We can create new jobs or utilise our large workforce to enter the world job market,’ said Teten.

Teten added, to support these things, there must be aligned policies, including protection for domestic industries, including MSMEs. "We have received some valuable input from Kadin as a representative of the business world. Of course, later we will make adjustments,’ he said further.

Meanwhile, Arsjad reminded that MSMEs as the backbone of the national economy need to be maintained and protected. Especially with the many illegal imported products entering Indonesia."Do not let these illegal imports create predatory pricing that harms our local MSMEs because they are unable to compete.Therefore, there needs to be a government policy to protect MSMEs,’ he said.

On the occasion, Arsjad reiterated Kadin Indonesia's commitment in encouraging MSMEs to upgrade and penetrate the export market. For this reason, collaboration between a number of stakeholders is needed, including the synergy of MSMEs with large companies.

‘As already mentioned, to be able to upgrade and penetrate the export market, MSMEs need assistance and also partners for access to the export market, including in terms of access to funding,’ Arsjad continued.

Arsjad continued, Kadin Indonesia has run a number of inclusive and collaborative initiatives in order to encourage MSMEs to upgrade so that they can penetrate the export market. Two years ago, Kadin launched the Closed Loop Inclusive Partnership, an Inclusive Partnership movement for MSMEs to Upgrade, which was inaugurated by President Joko Widodo.

As part of the inclusive movement, Kadin also launched WikiExport. Through this programme, MSMEs will receive certified export training and the opportunity to participate in business matching abroad.

In 2023, Kadin Indonesia collaborated with the Japan External Trade Organization (Jetro) and supported by PT HM Sampoerna Tbk to hold a business matching in Tokyo, Japan by bringing 9 Indonesian MSMEs that had completed the WikiExport training programme. They are Pipiltin Cocoa, Alko Sumatra Coffee, Sukkha Citta, Shiroshima, House of Tea, Balista Coffee Liqueur, Sambal Pecah, Jamune, and Ohana Mie.The activity recorded MSME exports to Japan amounting to US$1 million.

For this year, Kadin Indonesia and Jetro will again hold export certification training for MSMEs followed by organising business matching for MSMEs that pass the curation.

"We are targeting 2,000 MSMEs from various types of businesses to join the WikiExport Japan programme. Furthermore, it is expected that at least 20 MSMEs can pass the curation to take part in business matching in Japan and meet a number of potential buyers,’ said Arsjad.

Based on data from the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs, there are around 65 million MSMEs in Indonesia with a contribution of 61% to the gross domestic product (GDP) and absorb 97% of the total national workforce. However, the contribution of MSMEs to national exports has only reached around 15.7%, lower than neighbouring countries such as Singapore (41%) and Thailand (29%).