Trade Minister Lutfi Encourages MSME Recovery At The Asia Pacific Level

Minister of Trade, M. Lutfi. (Photo: Doc. Ministry of Trade)

JAKARTA - Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are one of the sectors affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. To support this sector to recover, the Ministry of Trade (Kemendag) encourages the strengthening of digital connectivity for people's businesses that are integrated in the regional scope.

Trade Minister Muhammad Lutfi explained that this effort was carried out through a cooperation forum for 21 economies in the Pacific Ocean ring that are members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). He hopes that in the future MSMEs can contribute to supply chain resilience and economic recovery in the Asia Pacific region.

"The challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic will still continue, so a more facilitative trade policy is needed and the importance of avoiding the implementation of policies that hinder trade flows and supply chain stability," he said in an official statement, Monday, June 7.

Furthermore, Lutfi said, currently the economic growth of the Asia Pacific region has shown improvement, although it is still not evenly distributed among APEC Economic members. This can be a positive signal for Indonesia and new opportunities.

Not only that, in the APEC forum Lutfi also carried out international lobbying efforts that focused on efforts to recover the economy. Among these are facilitating access to essential goods including vaccines and vaccine-related products and reopening international travel safely.

There are also efforts to utilize digital technology to improve trade facilitation, strengthen supply chains, and increase the competitiveness of business actors and MSMEs.

"APEC plays a key role in strengthening cooperation and commitment to collaborate to overcome the impact of the pandemic. Indonesia continues to support various efforts to enrich dialogue and exchange of policy information among APEC Economic members in order to ensure a strong economic recovery in the region and in line with national interests," he said.