"The Industry Ministry is striving to increase the quality and satisfy the production quantity for educational industries, particularly the IT industry," he informed at a press conference on Local Product Usage Enhancement (P3DN) here on Thursday.
Kartasasmita said the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology has already committed to supporting the national industry by providing an opportunity for laptop and IT producers to fulfill the ministry's orders. The total value of the ministry's orders has reached Rp3.345 trillion (around US$228 million) this year, with orders continuing to the next year, he informed.
The Education Ministry's orders are meant as a catalyst for the national industry to ramp up production efforts despite difficulties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Kartasasmita said.
To supply products to the Education Ministry, IT factories needed to satisfy prior conditions, such as the requirement for a minimum of 40 percent of the local procurement rate (TKDN) and the company benefit weight (BMP), he added.
According to the Industry Minister, of the 14 notebook products provided by six producers to the ministry, eight notebooks fulfilled the TKDN and BMP criteria. Six router products made by four companies also satisfied the TKDN criteria, with one product even fulfilling the BMP criteria, he pointed out.
Three PC desktop products made by two producers, 61 tablet computer products made by 13 producers, and one server product provided by one producer, also satisfied prior conditions, he added.
Kartasasmita said his ministry is encouraging industries to increase production quality and capacity by adhering to the Indonesian National Standard (SNI) for IT products and by providing technical guidance to local IT industries.
"The Industry Ministry is also encouraging the IT industry, particularly the laptop industry, to engage in component investment and perform their product research and development process here," the minister said.
He said that the recent chip shortage worldwide did affect the local laptop industry, which is largely dependent on imported components.
"Unfortunately, (the shortage) caused the fulfillment of products for local demand and the education ministry to be hampered," Kartasasmita said.
Therefore, the government and the industry should cooperate and encourage component investment in Indonesia, he added.
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Translator: Sella PG, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Suharto
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