"Until Sunday morning, transactions took place to the tune of US$974.76 million, or Rp12.7 trillion," Lukita said at the closing of TEI 2016 in Jakarta on Sunday. The minister is confident that the total transactions at TEI would be over US$1 billion.
TEI 2016 is a turning point in national export performance, Lukita said. Indonesias exports till this August had dropped by 10.61 percent compared to the same period last year. "President Joko Widodo had asked us to maintain the balance of trade and hoped that TEI could reverse the decline of national exports," he said.
The countrys export market is expected to do better in 2017, the minister said, though he was reluctant to reveal the trade ministrys export target. "Exports in 2017 should be higher; every year should be higher than the preceding year. We will observe the growth of the world economy, see how far it recovers. Our exports should at least not be lower than the previous years".
Lukita believes that the export performance can stabilize and even improve by exploring new markets, that is, countries other than those Indonesia has traditionally exported to.
Small and medium enterprises (SME) are also being encouraged to attract buyers by adding value to their export products. The minister said such products will ensure that the national export performance is not solely dependent on primary products such as crude palm oil.
The trade ministry is helping SMEs innovate through the Indonesia Design Development Center (IDDC), with Designers Program Dispatch Service (DDS). "The IDDC is a collaboration between designers and SME entrepreneurs. The products are given unique characteristics for added value. In 2017, we will pay special attention to the IDDC. The president has asked me to allocate adequate budget," the minister said.
At TEI 2016, the potential buyers came not only from Indonesias traditional export destinations, but also from countries in Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. At US$ 826.52 million, the majority was goods transactions, followed by the service sector at US$48.23 million. Indonesian investment to other countries amounted to US$100 million. In all, 15,567 potential buyers from 125 countries participated in the expo. Of this, 110 countries had transactions indirectly with domestic businesses.
As per the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), Indonesias export value in August 2016 reached US$12.63 billion, down 0.74 percent compared with the same month in the previous year. Non-oil exports, however, were up 2.76 percent in August 2016, touching US$11.50 billion.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2016
