Megawati awards best performing exporters<\/p>\n
Arya Abhiseka, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
President Megawati Soekarnoputri awarded on Friday the
\nPrimaniyarta service medal to 34 companies assessed as the best
\nperforming exporters last year, praising them for their
\ncontribution to the national economy despite the difficult
\nbusiness climate.<\/p>\n
The 34 exporters were selected from among 3,067 exporting
\ncompanies throughout the country by a team of analysts,
\nrepresentatives of business associations and several ministries.<\/p>\n
\"I am greatly impressed with your hard work to steadily expand
\nyour markets and diversify your export goods at this difficult
\ntime,\" the President said when awarding the service medals.<\/p>\n
Megawati acknowledged the climate at present was not highly
\nconducive for doing business due to a lack of legal certainty,
\nbureaucratic red tape and other problems inherent in the
\ntransition from a centralized government to regional autonomy.<\/p>\n
The President said the government had done its best to make
\nthings easier for business operations but the overall condition
\nwas still worse than businesspeople had expected.<\/p>\n
She called on the business community to improve cooperation
\nand communication with the government to face the challenges the
\nnation faced in the current transition to reshape its national
\nlife.<\/p>\n
\"By steadily diversifying your export markets and export
\ncommodities, you have contributed greatly to the national
\neconomy,\" she added.<\/p>\n
The President praised businesspeople's great contribution to
\nthe creation of employment, pointing out that jobs provide people
\nwith purchasing power to fuel consumer demand and production.<\/p>\n
Consumer demand has been the main locomotive of Indonesia's
\neconomy since 1998.<\/p>\n
Minister of Industry and Trade Rini M. Soewandi urged
\nexporters not to be complacent with the traditional export
\nmarkets but be aggressive in seeking new markets.<\/p>\n
\"Our non-oil exports last year expanded only by around 2.5
\npercent, lower than their target of 3 percent,\" Rini said.<\/p>\n
Rini was, however, optimistic about achieving the 5 percent
\ngrowth set for non-oil exports this year.<\/p>\n
\"I know that is a tall order, but with hard work and
\naggressive promotion, we can achieve it,\" she said.<\/p>\n
The Primaniyarta award has been organized annually
\nto promote exports and motivate companies to be more active in
\nmarketing their commodities worldwide.<\/p>\n
Most of the exporting companies presented awards are resource-
\nbased ventures located outside Java, showing that products from
\nnatural resources remain the most competitive exports from
\nIndonesia.<\/p>\n
For example, PT Intibenua Perkasatama in Dumai, Riau province,
\nwas presented the award not primarily for its export sales that
\naveraged US$380 million a year between 1997 and 2001 but due to
\nits success in diversifying its crude palm oil-based products and
\nexpanding its export market to around 29 countries.<\/p>\n
Intibenua, which was founded by businessman Bachtiar Karim in
\n1994 with a daily capacity of only 500 metric tons of palm kernel
\noil, at present has a daily capacity to process 1,600 tons of CPO
\ninto olein, stearine and fatty acid.<\/p>\n
The evaluation team of the trade and industry ministry also
\ngave it a high score for its community development programs and
\nits contribution to absorb fresh fruit bunches from more than
\n120,000 hectares of state, private and smallholder oil palm
\nplantations in Riau.<\/p>\n
Likewise, PT Megasurya Mas in Sidoarjo, East Java, was awarded
\nfor its exceptional achievement in expanding its exports of soap
\nand margarine to more than 60 countries in Asia and Africa, its
\ngreat contribution to local community development and its high
\nwork safety record.<\/p>\n
Other top resource-based exporters last year were PT Bintuni
\nMinaraya fishing company in Papua, PT Antam nickel company in
\nSoutheast Sulawesi, PT Pupuk Iskandar Muda fertilizer plant in
\nAceh and PT Barito Pacific Timber in South Kalimantan.<\/p>\n
The best export performance was assessed by the increase in
\nexport sales, diversification of export market and products over
\nthe past five years.<\/p>\n
The program classifies the award into four categories of
\nexporting companies by their size and annual turnovers: small
\nexporter group for those with average export value ranging
\nbetween US$500,000 and $5 million; the medium group with $5.1
\nmillion to $30 million; the upper medium group with $30.1 million
\nand $70 million, and the large group with more than $70 million.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Industry and Trade said it would give
\nincentives for every Primaniyarta recipient such as first option
\nto join government foreign trade missions.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/megawati-awards-best-performing-exporters-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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