Egypt opens market for Indonesian products
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Egypt said it was committed to opening its market and chances for Indonesia`s small-and-medium enterprise (SME)`s products.<br /><br />"I was invited by the Egyptian authorities and they expressed admiration at Indonesia, which can produce handicrafts from the source of a variety of materials, and that`s why they expressed readiness to accept all our SME products," said Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs, Sjarifuddin Hasan, in Jakarta, this weekend.<br /><br />He said the Egyptian government`s commitment to open its markets for Indonesian SME products is a great advantage because Egypt is a gateway to European countries and Africa.<br /><br />Indonesia and Egypt also have agreed to organize an exhibition of SME products produced by two countries.<br /><br />"In real term, the `business to business` relationship between Indonesian furniture companies has been established where businessmen of nations cooperate to jointly produce and market the products," said the Minister.<br /><br />Previously, the Indonesian minister has signed a joint memorandum of understanding on June 13, 2010 with the Minister of International Relations and Industry of Egypt concerning the management of Nile water hyacinth to produce handicrafts.<br /><br />Indonesia will provide training and technical assistance concerning preservation of the environment with the utilization of water hyacinth to produce handicrafts.<br /><br />The cooperation departed from the fact that the water hyacinth in the Nile has become a most disturbing pest while the river concerns the interest of many Egyptian people.<br /><br />"We will send water hyacinth businessmen to train them and the compensation is that they will open their market for Indonesian products," said the Minister.<br /><br />The Egyptian government also said it wanted to learn from Indonesia on how to empower cooperatives and SMEs in the country.(*)