Cool! Minister Of Industry Agus Gumiwang Enters IKM Into Global Supply Chain Through BUMN

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Minister of Industry (Menperin) Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita emphasized that his party is determined to continue to encourage the development of small and medium industry players (IKM) so that they can be more productive and competitive in the global arena.

This is evidenced by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in the context of Cooperative Partnerships, MSMEs/IKMs in the SOE Supply Chain.

"In order to build a fair and inclusive industry, it is necessary to increase the role of the community, especially IKM players, as part of the supply chain of the national manufacturing industry," he said as reported by the official website, Saturday, September 4.

According to the Minister of Industry, strategic steps are needed in order to connect IKM players into the global value chain. Through this step, it is hoped that it will increase the value of national exports and support the import substitution program.

"Empowerment and increasing the role of the IKM sector really helps the resilience of the domestic manufacturing industry," he said.

On the same occasion, Secretary General of the Ministry of Industry Dody Widodo said that the Memorandum of Understanding with the Minister of SOEs Erick Thohir and the Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs Teten Masduki was a manifestation of the independence of a sovereign industry.

"Through the synergy of this partnership program, we will continue to encourage more IKM products that can partner with other SOEs to increase the use of domestic products in state companies," he explained.

Citing data reported by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) it was stated that the number of IKM reached 4.41 million business units, which absorbed 15.64 million workers. SMEs are also recorded to be able to contribute to the growth of the non-oil and gas industry by 21.22 percent with the most dominant sectors being food and beverages, fashion and handicrafts.

Meanwhile, the cooperation signed by IKM actors with BUMN includes metal foundry IKM CV Baja Kurnia which will partner with PT PLN and IKM repair and manufacture of mechanical parts CV Byakta Prakasa which will partner with PT Krakatau Steel.

"We aspire that this partnership supports import substitution policies that are simultaneous with increasing production utilization of all manufacturing industry sectors," concluded Dody.