Jakarta (ANTARA) - Marine and Fisheries Affairs Minister, Edhy Prabowo, has encouraged the young generation to start business ventures in the marine and fisheries sector in a bid to create jobs.

"Graduates of high schools and universities are encouraged to start businesses in the marine and fisheries sector," Prabowo said in a statement here on Tuesday.

According to the minister, the huge business potential in the sector is yet to be explored optimally.

Indonesia is a country with the second longest coastline in the world, but only 10 percent of it has been used, the minister continued.

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"Our biggest challenge is how to create jobs," he said.

Previously, the ministry's Human Resource and Research Center conducted a certification of competency to improve the capabilities and professionalism of workers in the fisheries sector.

"Indonesia has a huge potential in the fisheries sector," the center's secretary, Maman Hermawan, said.

It would need a competent workforce to maintain the quality of fisheries products and handle its production chain.

"The competent workers must be trained and their competency needs recognition through a certificate of competency," he said. (INE).

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Translator: M Razi Rahman, Sri Haryati
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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