Indonesia Holds World Conference on Creative Economy

INDUSTRY.co.id - Jakarta - Indonesia will hold the second World Conference on Creative Economy (WCCE) which is planned to be held in Bali in November 2018.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs together with the Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf) in Jakarta on Thursday hosted the second WCCE preparation meeting at the Foreign Ministry with representatives of friendly countries.

Director General of Multilateral Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Febrian Ruddyard in the preparatory meeting said that the creative economy is one of the drivers of economic growth and development in the future.

The upcoming WCCE 2018 is expected to help lay the groundwork for creating an environment conducive to the growth of Indonesia's creative economy.

The creative economy grew very impressively in the country and became an important contributor to social and economic development.

Startup companies based on information technology such as Go-Jek, Traveloka, Tokopedia and Open Lapak who started their business in recent years alone, but now its value has exceeded one billion US dollars.

The four Indonesian startup companies hold the nickname of unicorns because of their asset value of one billion US dollars or more.

Vice Chairman of Bekraf Ricky J Persik revealed that the creative economy sector contributes 7.43 percent of Indonesia's total GDP, or about 70 billion US dollars.

Approximately 17 million people are engaged in the creative economy in Indonesia.

"One of the challenges is how to bring this creative industry into a major driver of the country's economic sector in the future," Ricky said.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno LP Marsudi and Head of Creative Economy Body (Bekraf) Triawan Munaf welcomed the presence of Diplomatic Representatives of friendly countries and delegates in a cocktail dinner "Kick off Friends of Creative Economy Preparatory Meeting II" at the Diplomatic Cafeteria, Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday.

He said the creative economy is predicted to be one of the drivers of economic growth and global development in the future.

"Today the creative economy has become an economic driving sector with a capitalization of 2.25 trillion dollars, which provides nearly 30 million jobs worldwide, Retno said.

"More importantly, the contribution of the unicorn company pursues more than just the company's economic and financial benefits, but has also been able to empower the local people in an inclusive way," the minister said.