JAKARTA - The General Chair of the Indonesian Garment and Textile Association (AGTI) Anne Patricia Sutanto assessed President Prabowo Subianto's attention to strengthening the national textile and garment industry as a very strong political and economic signal for the sustainability of the labor-intensive sector.
Anne emphasized that the President's commitment to placing the garment and textile industry as a strategic sector needs to be translated concretely by ministries, institutions, and local governments in the form of concrete policies, regulations, and implementation instruments.
"This industry plays a vital role in creating employment and national social-economic stability," he said, quoted on Thursday, January 15.
Regarding the President's emphasis on revitalizing the textile supply chain, AGTI assessed that strengthening the supply chain needed to be carried out comprehensively from upstream to downstream. Indonesia's long textile supply chain requires policies that are able to increase the competitiveness and added value of the national industry sustainably.
According to Anne, strengthening the domestic upstream industry is important to reduce dependence on imports of strategic raw materials. However, as long as national capacity is not sufficient, the import of raw materials is still needed so that the production process is not hampered.
"Imports of raw materials for manufacturers who comply with the rules need to run quickly and efficiently so that the competitiveness of the industry remains maintained," said Anne.
AGTI also views the downstream program discussed by the President as the key to increasing the added value of the textile and garment industry. With a long supply chain, downstream is considered capable of strengthening the independence of the industry while maintaining the contribution of this sector as an absorber of labor and a driver of the national economy.
In addition, the development of technology and semiconductors is considered to have strategic implications for the implementation of industry 4.0 in the textile sector. Anne said that dependence on imported machines is still high, so strengthening the domestic machinery industry is an important part of the national industrialization agenda.
After the limited meeting in Hambalang, AGTI hopes that President Prabowo's directions will be immediately followed up through concrete policies, including deregulation, debirokratisasi licensing, provision of competitive energy, as well as fiscal and financing support.
"With integrated policies, the garment and textile industry can again increase competitiveness and strengthen its position as the backbone of national labor-intensive manufacturing," said Anne.
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