Italy provides help for local shoe industry<\/p>\n
Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
For those who value leather shoes made from high quality
\nItalian material as their first choice in footwear, but never
\nimagined that Italian shoes could be made in Indonesia, well
\nthink again.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian government and the Italian government signed a
\nmemorandum of understanding (MoU) on Thursday to set up a special
\ncenter that would help boost the quality of locally made leather
\nshoes to match Italian products.<\/p>\n
The center is called the Indonesian Footwear Service Center
\n(IFSC), located in Sidoarjo, East Java.<\/p>\n
It will function as a training and resource center for
\naspiring local cobblers. In addition it will be a source for
\ninformation, research and development in the shoe industry and a
\ncenter for consultation. The center is expected to start
\noperating later this year.<\/p>\n
The Italian government has allocated a soft loan worth 10
\nbillion lire (about US$4.56 million) to help finance the center.
\nThe loan carries an interest rate of 0.5 percent and a repayment
\nperiod of 36 years.<\/p>\n
The loan will be used to buy new machinery and to cover
\ntraining expenses.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian government promised to contribute Rp 10.35
\nbillion ($1.15 million) for the purchase of land, furniture and
\nthe construction of the building.<\/p>\n
Italy was chosen as a partner to develop the local shoe
\nindustry because of the former's strong reputation in producing
\nhigh quality leather shoes.<\/p>\n
"The (shoe industry) sector (here) is very promising.
\nIndonesian leather shoes are actually very impressive, made with
\na high-level of skill and in very good taste," Ambassador of
\nItaly to Indonesia Francesco M. Greco, told the media.<\/p>\n
"In the next five to ten years, Indonesia can become a very
\ntough, competitive country in leather shoes for Italy, so it will
\nbe better to build a strategic partnership with the country now,
\nrather than having a possible competitor," smiled Greco.<\/p>\n
He also said that Indonesian workers were actually skillful,
\nalthough the local industry needed some help with technology and
\nto be able to produce with Italian standards.<\/p>\n
Greco expected that after years of training local cobblers,
\nmore Italian investors would put their money into the Indonesian
\nshoe industry and more locally made products would be exported to
\nItaly.<\/p>\n
The value of Indonesia's shoe exports reached $1.29 million in
\n2002 with an average growth of 1.8 percent per annum.<\/p>",
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