Bahrain Wants to Learn About SME Empowerment from Indonesia

INDUSTRY.co.id - Manam - Bahrain said to want to learn from Indonesia in terms of empowering SMEs, especially the management of Smesco Center in the country.

Chairman of ASEAN Bahrain Council Shaykh Daij Bin Isa Al Khalifa appreciated the development of SMEs in Indonesia as well as open themselves in order to cooperate with ASEAN countries, especially Indonesia.

In particular the Bahraini Government wants to learn how Indonesia can build and manage the SMESCo Center in Indonesia.

This was conveyed to the Indonesian delegation who was invited to the SME Dialogue Program meeting organized by the ASEAN Bahrain Council and attended by representatives from various Ministries of Bahrain, Ambassadors of ASEAN member countries, International Agencies, SME Associations, and business actors (13/9 / 2017).

Responding to that Expert Staff Minister for Macro Economy Ministry of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Hasan Jauhari also share experiences related to the efforts of the Indonesian government in the development of SMEs in Indonesia.

Hasan Jauhari as Keynote Speaker of the event also conveyed the number of SMEs in Indonesia reached more than 57 million business units or 99.9 percent of the total business actors in Indonesia. "SMEs accounted for 62.58 percent of Gross Domestic Product and provided employment of 96.9 percent," he said.

He stressed that the Government of Indonesia paid special attention to SMEs because it proved to not only contribute as a growth engine through its contribution to the GDP of 62.58 percent but also in job creation.

"The Government of Indonesia has made a number of policies and programs, particularly related to SME's exploitation, especially through the development and growth of entrepreneurship, providing financial support, including providing people's business credit, as well as marketing facilitation, including promotion to the international market," said Hasan Jauhari.

Hasan further explained the important role of SMEs in Indonesia, as it also supports big businesses, especially in distributing the products of daily needs of the community, Reach 56 percent Value to all corners of the country.

"Without the presence of SMEs, the big business will have difficulty in distributing their own products to all corners of the country," he said.

Another important position of SMEs is its existence in preserving products based on local wisdom and natural resource based products as well as maintaining and dominating domestic market with domestic consumer potential of 253 million people.

On the same occasion Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to Bahrain, Nur Syahrir Rahardjo in his speech said that SMEs are the savior of the Indonesian economy during the global crisis.

"Based on the experience, the Indonesian government is very aware of the importance of SMEs," he said.

For this reason the Government of Indonesia then provides specific policies to encourage the development of SMEs through increased human resources, increased competitiveness, regulatory improvements, increased productivity, the provision of venture capital assistance promotion facilities, and product exhibitions.

This is done as a concrete effort and a form of state partiality to the perpetrators of SMEs.