Minister Teten Reveals Reasons ASEAN Becomes A Global Cross-Border Product Target

Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs (Menkop UKM) Teten Masduki. (Photo: Doc. Kemenkop UKM)

JAKARTA - Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs (Menkop UKM) Teten Masduki said the ASEAN area is a target for global cross-border products.

This is because the population in the ASEAN region reaches around 679 million people and economic growth reaches 5.6 percent.

This was revealed by Teten while attending an event organized by the Indonesian Anti-Corruption Coalition (KAKI) in Jakarta, Wednesday, September 27.

"ASEAN is also a target because the value of gross domestic products reached 3.62 trillion US dollars and ASEAN's export contribution to the world reached 8.39 percent of the world's total exports with a value of 2.05 trillion US dollars," Minister Teten said in a written statement.

However, in the midst of this potential, Teten emphasized the need to pay attention to the growth of MSME actors so that they are not eroded by cross-border illegal trade which results in predatory pricing.

Teten believes Southeast Asia is very relevant to becoming the center of world economic growth, suitable for production centers, and global industrialization based on domestic excellence.

The main idea is the downstreaming of natural resources that can be achieved through technology transfer, utilization of new and renewable energy sources, and minimizing and even eliminating negative impacts on the environment.

"MSMEs must be involved in downstreaming so that the impact is wider and more significant," said Teten.

According to him, pilot initiatives such as the factory sharing model that has been created by the Kemenkop UKM in several regions in Indonesia are ready to be implemented in all ASEAN areas.

"Some of them are Nilam or atsiri oil in Aceh, furniture in Central Java, beef processing in East Nusa Tenggara, North Sulawesi for processing coconut fiber, and East Kalimantan for biofarmaka," said Teten.

He also hopes that KAKI can also provide more useful initiatives in promoting business practices that uphold good transparency and governance in 2023.

On the same occasion, Chairman of the Indonesian Anti-Corruption Coalition (KAKI) Erry Riyana Hardjapamekas believes that this event is very important to help overcome corrupt practices in the ASEAN region and to reinforce anti-corruption behavior in terms of business.

"I believe the topics discussed in this event are very important to discuss. I hope that this event can overcome corrupt practices in ASEAN. Corruption is a very bad thing in terms of business, therefore there needs to be an anti-corruption commitment, especially in business," he added.