The Directorate of ASEAN Economic Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press statement that Antara received here on Sunday that MSMEs were indeed an important part of both the Indonesian and ASEAN economies.
The Directorate General of ASEAN Cooperation in collaboration with Balikpapan`s Cooperatives and MSMEs Office, as well as the Industry Office have held a seminar to socialize the government`s policy on the Improvement of Competitiveness of Indonesian SMEs in the ASEAN Market through Protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and Expansion of Funding Access in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan.
The event was participated in by 120 local MSMEs. Vice Mayor of Balikpapan, Rahmad Mas`ud, in his opening remark, emphasized the importance of the role of MSMEs for economic growth.
"The MSMEs have the ability to stimulate economic dynamics if they are managed properly," Rahmad Mas`ud said.
He added that MSMEs should be able to increase their competitiveness, one of which by building awareness of the importance of intellectual property rights, in order to face free market challenges.
Meanwhile, the Director of ASEAN Economic Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ade Petranto, explained that MSMEs were indeed an important part of both the Indonesian and ASEAN economies.
Indonesian MSMEs are also encouraged not only to focus on the domestic market, but also to penetrate the ASEAN market by utilizing prevailing tariff preferences in the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).
Ade said, in addition to a lack of awareness of the importance of intellectual property rights, another challenge for Indonesian MSMEs is also related to limited access to funding resources.
On that occasion, the Director of Intellectual Property Empowerment at the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, Molan Karim Tarigan, explained to the MSMEs actors on the importance of protecting copyrights of their products by registering intellectual property, especially brand rights.
Molan also explained mechanisms for registering the intellectual property rights for MSMEs products.
In order to increase the competitiveness of Indonesia`s MSMEs to penetrate the ASEAN market, the role of stakeholders at the central and local levels is considered important.
Reporting by Yuni Arisandy
Reporting by Libertina W Ambari, Rahmad Nasution
Reporter: Antara
Editor: Suharto
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