Trade Minister Lutfi: Do Not Let The Prayer Mats And Prayer Beads For Hajj Pilgrims Come From China

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

JAKARTA - Minister of Trade Muhammad Lutfi asked echelon 1 officials in various related ministries to collect data on products needed by the Hajj and Umrah market. The goal is for Indonesian congregants to use Indonesian-made products during their worship in Saudi Arabia.

"Do not let the goods from the goodie bag they bring are the prayer mats made in China, then the prayer beads too. This is what we have to commit together so that all the goods they bring are made in Indonesia and after that how can we transmit them into SME products," he said, in the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on Optimizing the Role of Small and Medium Enterprises in Meeting the Needs of Hajj and Umrah, Wednesday, January 13.

Lutfi also hopes that the implementation of the cooperation agreement between the Ministry of Trade, Kemenkop UKM, Kemenag and Kadin Indonesia can be realized quickly. Because, he said, the most important thing in the cooperation agreement is the speed of realization.

Furthermore, Lutfi said that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have experienced many difficulties in being able to sell their products in Saudi Arabia. One of the main obstacles is getting a certification permit from the Government of Saudi Arabia.

"Hopefully the implementation of this opportunity will not take a long time as this has been initiated since 2017," he said.

This certification, said Lutfi, is very necessary for UKM. The goal is that products traded in the Middle East are of a quality that meets the same standards. Therefore, various government agencies and private companies are asked to be able to provide support to SME actors. So, according to him, Indonesian products can compete at home and abroad.

"The Ministry of Trade is ready to accommodate our 46 representatives in the world. In this case in Saudi and surrounding areas we are ready to help," he explained.

Previously, the Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs (MenKop UKM) Teten Masduki said supporting SMEs to participate in fulfilling the needs of the Haj and Umrah pilgrims was an effort to restore economic conditions. This is because the business sector is the backbone of the Indonesian economy.

"I think this collaboration is a form of optimism at the beginning of the year which shows that MSMEs are still surviving in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic that has not yet ended. The Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs has encouraged the participation of SMEs in meeting the needs of the Haj and Umrah pilgrims as part of the government's efforts to recover the national economy, "said Teten.

Not only that, said Teten, involving MSMEs to supply the needs of the Haj and Umrah pilgrims is the same as supporting this sector to access a wider market.

"This is part of the collaboration, among others, from financial support, training, standardization and product certification, product curation and promotion, including access to markets as regulated in the Job Creation Law," he said.