Great Opportunity, Ministry Of Foreign Affairs Encourages MSMEs To Try South Asia And Africa Markets

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Pahala Nugraha Mansury (Photo: Andry Winanto/VOI)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that it still has a high commitment to help pave the way for business actors in Indonesia, especially MSMEs, in expanding their market share abroad.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (Wamenlu) Pahala Nugraha Mansury said that one of the favorite areas to develop is the South Asian region. According to him, with a population that tends to have great opportunities for business expansion, it will be higher.

"We need to develop export destination areas to areas that may not be optimal now, such as in South Asia. Why go to that area? Because the total population there is almost 2 billion people," he said when answering reporters' questions in Jakarta, Monday, August 14.

Pahala explained, besides that the government also encourages MSMEs to direct their shots in Africa considering that the area is not a traditional market for Indonesia.

In Africa there is a population of about 1.7 billion people. So of course this is how we support to give the region priority," he said.

The former Deputy Minister of SOEs also revealed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is ready to cooperate with a number of relevant ministries and institutions considering the strengthening of international trade has a lot to do with other agencies.

Many of our products can enter. One that is currently being focused on is medicinal products and vaccines. Like Biofarma, which is now a partner of WHO and Unicef to vaccinate in several African countries," he said.

Most recently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has just signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Finance regarding efforts to encourage MSMEs to Go Global.

Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said the synergy of these two agencies has three important meanings. First, this is real support for the urgency of national economic recovery.

"Second, this is an active role of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Finance in increasing economic diplomacy measures," said Retno.

And the third is to ensure that economic diplomacy produces benefits for all Indonesian people.