Trade Minister Ready to Facilitate Red and White Village Cooperatives to Export

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Minister of Trade Budi Santoso stated that the Ministry of Trade is ready to facilitate the Red and White Village Cooperatives (Kopdes) so that they can penetrate the export market.

When met at the Ministry of Trade office, Jakarta, on Thursday, Budi stated that the government had facilitated the first export of processed cocoa products from the Red and White Village Cooperatives in Jembrana, Bali, as an initial step for village cooperatives to enter the global market.

He said that in the future, the government will provide entrepreneurship training for cooperative employees and members, including special training to meet export standards.

“We want exports not only from the city, but also from villages. So that not only large companies can export, but MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) and the Red and White Village Cooperatives must also be able to export,” he added.

He ensured that the Ministry of Trade would facilitate the Red and White Village Cooperatives through support from Indonesian trade representatives abroad, including business matching programs, so that the export marketing network can be further expanded.

Budi added that the strategy to strengthen exports is not only through facilitating village cooperatives, but also through expanding international trade agreements.

“We want our exports to increase. How? One way is by having many trade agreements that can open up access to our markets abroad,” he said.

In addition, the Ministry of Trade is also running a ‘from local to global’ program by encouraging MSMEs to enter the export market.

Budi said that last year the government facilitated around 1,200 MSMEs with a transaction value of 134.8 million US dollars or more than 2 trillion rupiah. Of that number, 70 percent were MSMEs that had not previously exported.