By Erwida Maulia and Mustaqim Adamrah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The new point man: Newly inaugurated Coordinating Minister for the Economy Hatta Radjasa (right) and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati (left) chat with economic ministers (from second left) Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu, State Minister for National Development Planning Armida Alisjahbana, State Minister for Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Syarifuddin Hasan, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Fadel Muhammad, and Transportation Minister Freddy Numberi, after their inauguration ceremony Thursday. JP/J. AdigunaThe new point man: Newly inaugurated Coordinating Minister for the Economy Hatta Radjasa (right) and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati (left) chat with economic ministers (from second left) Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu, State Minister for National Development Planning Armida Alisjahbana, State Minister for Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Syarifuddin Hasan, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Fadel Muhammad, and Transportation Minister Freddy Numberi, after their inauguration ceremony Thursday. JP/J. Adiguna
The government's new economic team has set its goals for the next five years, focusing primarily on breaking through obstacles to revive the real sector hit by the global economic downturn.
Newly installed Coordinating Minister for the Economy Hatta Radjasa said Thursday there were five points the economic team would focus on, namely infrastructure, food security, energy, the manufacturing sector and small and medium enterprise revitalization, and the service sector.
He said the government would bring up all the main issues at a business and economic forum held in conjunction with the Trade Expo on Oct. 29 in Jakarta.
"We need to increase exports, to establish industries, to build infrastructure ... We have to ensure a stable electricity supply. We must focus on all of these things," he said at the State Palace.
A Democratic Party politician, newly installed Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Darwin Zahedy Saleh said he would speed up his ministry's priority programs,
"We need to accelerate the schedule of the first 10,000 megawatt power project so we can proceed with the second," he said at the Palace.
"*Yudhoyono* has asked us to evaluate and expedite all the things related to existing policies. *For example*, we want to increase our *oil production* lift to stimulate investment, so we need to evaluate the related policies."
Reelected Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said her working commitment encompassed programs to improve the performance of her ministry and the Customs and Excise Office, provide a better flow of goods service, improve the National Single Window scheme, support special economic zones and continue reforms in her institution, all within her first 100 days.
Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu, who also retained her post, said in a press conference that in her first 100 days she would focus on improving exports by diversifying markets and products, mainly those of a natural resources base.
"We not only need to strengthen our international trade, but also our domestic trade," she said.
She said she would "fight for the interests of Indonesia in international forums", such as the APEC summit in Singapore on Nov. 12-14, the World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, on Nov. 29-Dec. 3, and the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Backed by the Golkar Party, Industry Minister Mohamad Suleman Hidayat, who is also the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) chairman, said he would combine his first 100-day programs in the ministry with similar programs proposed by Kadin.
"We want to integrate the perspectives of the business world and the government," he said at the Industry Ministry. "We'll make a list of necessary and unnecessary policies."
In the long run, Hidayat said, the Industry Ministry, the Trade Ministry, the Finance Ministry, the Agriculture Ministry and the Capital Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) should make joint policies in order to be more harmonious.
"There will be no more ministerial policies that could discourage national producers, or the other way around," he said.
Find Article by Date