Minister of Cooperatives Urges Large-Scale Cooperatives to Expand into Strategic Sectors

Surabaya (ANTARA) - Minister of Cooperatives Ferry Juliantono has urged large cooperatives in Indonesia to boldly expand into strategic economic sectors to strengthen national economic sovereignty. “Cooperatives should not be content with just the savings and loans sector or small-scale support services. I invite Kopelindo to boldly expand into strategic sectors,” he said during the Annual Members’ Meeting (RAT) of the Indonesian Port Cooperatives (Kopelindo) in Surabaya on Saturday. According to him, the current momentum of economic transformation must be utilised by cooperatives to enter business lines that have broad impacts. He gave examples, stating that cooperatives should start eyeing the energy, food, and infrastructure sectors as fields for service and promising business. One of the entities encouraged to expand is Kopelindo, as it has a strong bargaining position to scale up its business in the global supply chain. It is known that Kopelindo’s assets have increased from Rp712 billion to Rp788 billion, revenue has risen from Rp262 billion to Rp270 billion, remaining business results have grown from Rp19.4 billion to Rp20.3 billion, and membership has reached 6,040 people from 5,825. Ferry assured that the government is ready to provide regulatory support so that bureaucratic barriers for cooperatives wanting to enter capital-intensive sectors can be minimised. “Expansion into strategic sectors is impossible without strengthening information technology. Digitalisation is no longer an option, but an obligation so that cooperatives can compete with private corporations and SOEs,” he said.