Jakarta (ANTARA) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) suggested small-, medium-, and micro-scale entrepreneurs, with export market orientation, to avoid mass production, for they could lose the competition to similar products from other nations.

"Do not enter the mass production sector, else we will lose the competition with other countries that are already manufacturing products on a massive scale," Jokowi remarked after opening the Indonesian Creative Works 2019 exhibition at the Jakarta Convention Center here on Friday.

The president put forth his recommendation in response to the program to encourage SMEs to enter the export market in spite of the current sluggish growth of the global market.

"Not all sectors showed sluggish growth. In fact, certain markets still have the potential," Jokowi remarked in the company of the central bank's (BI's) Governor Perry Warjiyo, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung, and Head of the Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf) Triawan Munaf.

Jokowi believes that Indonesia's SMEs have a huge opportunity to penetrate the global market for handicraft products.

"Our strength lies in that sector. Let us see the products receive exposure here, all have their class. We can enter (the global market) from this sector. If our SMEs attempt to enter the market, with mass-produced items, then we will lose the competition," he reiterated.

The president lauded BI's move to support and develop Indonesia's small-, medium-, and micro-scale sector to penetrate the export market.

"I have witnessed a leap in development in term of the quality, quantity, packaging, and efforts to build the brand. This is good. The design is also drastically changed, and they have started to enter the marketplace, to the digital market," he stated.

Jokowi is optimistic that more products from the sector would enter the international market through the digital medium.

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"The way BI supports them is quite good. There is a process to select, or curatorship. It should be like that, then we will find premium products, with high quality, and buyers will not complain if they are sold at any price," the president emphasized.

Speaking in connection with the support in digital infrastructure, Jokowi noted that all regions across the country were already connected to the internet.

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Translator: Agus Salim, Sri Haryati
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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