Progress of SMEs gains more attention

Progress of SMEs gains more attention

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Country Service Framework for Indonesia the government
signed with the Vienna-based United Nations Industrial
Development Organization (UNIDO) late November seemed to have
heightened the momentum for the empowerment of small and medium-
scale enterprises (SMEs).

The Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs organized last week a
high-powered mission of the country's 10 largest banks to visit
small and medium-scale industries in Yogyakarta to get first-hand
information on their problems and business prospects.

Yogyakarta was also the site model of SME development that was
visited by UNIDO Director General Carlos Alfredo Magarinos after
he and Minister of Industry and Trade Rini Soewandi signed an
agreement in Jakarta.

"The banker mission included the chief executive officers of
the largest banks such as Bank Mandiri, Bank BNI, Bank BCA, Bank
Rakyat Indonesia, Bank Permata, Bank Danamon, Bank International
Indonesia and Bank Niaga," said Tony Agus Ardie, a businessman
who is developing a cluster of shrimp farming enterprises in
Yogyakarta.

Even though the banker mission has yet to be followed by a
concrete lending package for SMEs, the visit by so many CEOs of
the country's largest banks with so focused an agenda meant a lot
to maintain the momentum for the empowerment of SMEs, Tony,
chairman of the Indokor business group, added.

Tony, who organized the UNIDO mission to Yogyakarta in late
November, saw the bankers' visit as even more meaningful to SME
development because Syafruddin Tumenggung, chairman of the
Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA), also joined the
delegation.

"Since IBRA had taken over thousands of SME debts from closed
and nationalized banks the agency needs to know how important
these small and medium-size businesses are to our economy," he
said on Friday.

IBRA is reported to have taken over 421,344 SME debts totaling
almost Rp 30 trillion (US$3.3 billion), of which 90 percent have
been disposed of and the remaining 10 percent are being worked
out.

Tony was speaking at a farewell dinner for UNIDO chief
representative Syed Asif Hasnain who will leave soon after seven
years in Indonesia to take up a new assignment at UNIDO
headquarters in Vienna.

The party was also attended by Austrian Ambassador Bernhard
Zimburg, Swiss Ambassador Georges Martin and former trade
minister Arifin Siregar and former president of Pertamina A.R.
Ramly.

Tony said Hasnain would continue to work on Indonesian SME
development projects to follow up the visit and the country
service network UNIDO chief Magarinos signed in Jakarta in
November.

"This will enable us to optimize the technical assistance,
expertise, information and other resources offered by UNIDO,
which has experience in helping empower SMEs in numerous
developing countries," added Tony.

As UNIDO's primary tasks are to promote industrial
development, notably SMEs, in developing countries and enhance
industrial cooperation at the global, regional and national
levels, Indonesia can benefit greatly from the resources the
organization has and the experiences and expertise it has built
up, according to Tony.

Swiss Ambassador Martin noted that even in developed countries
such as Switzerland SMEs play a very important role in generating
jobs and are well known for their flexibility, creativity and
high rate of survivability in difficult economic conditions like
Indonesia now sees.

"As most big companies become increasingly globalized in
operations and ownership, SMEs are sometimes the only truly
national assets and the economic and social fabric of a nation,"
Martin added.

Austrian Ambassador Zimburg shared Martin's view but suggested
that big businesses and SMEs develop together as big companies
are able to allocate adequate resources for research and
development that is vital to economic growth and competitiveness.