Trade Minister Zulhas Invites The Community To Shop For MSME Products At Harbolnas 2023

Photo: Doc. Antara

JAKARTA - Minister of Trade (Mendag) Zulkifli Hasan invites the public to shop for local products and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) on the commemoration of National Online Shopping Day (Harbolnas) in Jakarta 12 December 2023.

Zulhas said the role of MSMEs in the National Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 60 percent, so it needed to be supported by the government and the community.

"We have to really defend MSMEs because what supports the Indonesian economy is MSMEs. The products are no less than imported products from other countries," said the Trade Minister at the National Online Shopping Day (Harbolnas) and the 'Local Buy' campaign in Jakarta, quoted from Antara, Tuesday 12 December.

Zulkifli said that currently MSMEs are in a positive trend with the increasing number every year.

Therefore, this trend needs to be directed at the adoption of digital technology so that MSME players have a wider market than the previous one.

He conveyed that the government through the Ministry of Trade also empowers MSMEs by issuing Regulation of the Minister of Trade (Permendag) Number 31 of 2023 concerning Business Licensing, Advertising, Development, and Supervision of Business Actors in Trade Through Electronic Systems.

This regulation is issued so that trading business actors through electronic systems (PMSE) have a fair, healthy, and useful e-commerce ecosystem space that is oriented towards consumer protection.

"We arrange so that the technology used by win-win can support MSMEs and domestic industries go international, they also benefit," he said.

Furthermore, the Minister of Trade expressed his appreciation for the cooperation between Tokopedia and TikTok in providing e-commerce platforms with local product campaigns.

According to him, all stakeholders need to collaborate to improve the Indonesian economy, one of which is through the e-commerce platform.

He emphasized that the government is not anti-products, although it is imported. However, the government wants to empower and advance MSMEs as the backbone of the Indonesian economy.

"Don't let e-commerce kill MSMEs and local industries. We want to go forward and develop together," he said.