Support small industry: Soeharto

Support small industry: Soeharto

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto yesterday presented awards to 54 businesspeople and nine regents and mayors for their distinguished efforts in developing small-scale industries, saying that the businesses development must be accelerated so to face tough competition.

"If we cannot win competition in the globalization era, our economy will stagnate," Soeharto said at the ceremony for the annual presentation of Upakarti industrial awards at the State Palace.

Soeharto warned that free trade competition does not occur only in the overseas market but also in the home country where foreign products flow in.

He said the current number of businesspeople involved in the development of small-scale industries in Indonesia -- two million or about 1 percent of the country's population -- is still much lower than that of industrial countries, which is about 4 percent to 5 percent.

He added that the government, businesspeople and other related parties, therefore, must improve coordination to develop small- scale industries which are usually labor-intensive.

"Partnerships based on mutual benefits between small and bigger enterprises are also needed to improve the competitiveness of our products," Soeharto said. (kod)