Jabat Menteri Perdagangan, Budi Santoso Cries Saat Certijab Dengan Zulhas

Minister of Trade Budi Santoso. (Mery Handayani / VOI)

JAKARTA - Trade Minister Budi Santoso cried during the moment of the handover of the ministerial certificate with Minister of Home Affairs Zulkifli Hasan for the 2022-2024 period of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi)-Ma'ruf Amin era.

As is known, Zulkifli Hasan or better known as Zulhas was appointed by President Prabowo Subianto as Coordinating Minister for Food (Menko Pangan).

"Mr. Coordinating Minister, today, sometimes I can't talk, I want to cry. Today my family and all staff of the Ministry of Trade are very touched," he said at the Ministry of Trade Office, Monday, October 21.

Budi said today is history for himself and the members of the Ministry of Trade. This is because this is the first time the leadership in the Ministry of Trade has come from career officials.

"Because this is a historic day for all of us, where a Minister of Trade was first entrusted to a career official of the Ministry of Trade. It is an honor and also a heavy responsibility, so not only me, but we all have to be able to carry out this task well," he said.

Budi also admitted that when accompanying Zulhas, he took many lessons. One of them is leadership and how to make a decision or policy.

"A lot of things have been achieved, export performance has always been in surplus for 53 consecutive months, maintained inflation, stable prices, and also other achievements. On this basis, the Minister, in the future, according to us, the Ministry of Trade, the main program is how to lead Indonesia to become a developed country in 2045," he said.

Furthermore, Budi said that there are three main programs of the Ministry of Trade, namely domestic market security, expansion of the export market, and increasing SMEs that can be exported.

"It can be exported short for Dare to Implement, Ready to Adapt. So our SMEs must go global. Instruments to support the program are actually already in the Ministry of Trade. For that we ask for support from business actors, stakeholders and all, especially colleagues at the Ministry of Trade to run the program well," he said.