Trade Minister Zulhas: Government Prioritize SMEs To Enter A Global Value Chain At The G20 Momentum

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Ministry of Finance)

JAKARTA - Minister of Trade, Zulkifli Hasan, said that the government has a priority mission of seeking small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to become part of the global value chain.

According to him, this step is part of a strategy to support economic growth and improve people's welfare.

"The integration of SMEs into the global value chain will increase the scale of SMEs in terms of competitiveness, employment, and welfare", he said, quoted from the official website on Saturday, August 27.

The Trade Minister added that Indonesia's G20 Presidency this year opens up greater opportunities for SMEs to go global.

"The G20 is very relevant in providing policy recommendations to members to encourage Indonesian SME products to enter and resolve the obstacles and obstacles faced", he said.

The bureaucrat who is familiarly called Zulhas also revealed that SMEs are the backbone of the Indonesian economy and all G20 member countries. The number of SMEs also increases every year.

For information, the G20 represents 85 percent of the world's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 75 percent of international trade, and 60 percent of the world's population.

The portion of Indonesian SMEs reached 99.9 percent of the total number of businesses, absorbed 97.05 percent of Indonesia's workforce, and contributed 61 percent of GDP.

In particular, Indonesian SMEs have great potential to be part of the global value chain. However, Indonesian SMEs still have several challenges to advance to class and become part of the global value chain", concluded Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan.