“Local creative economic products have quality as good as imported products. This is our joint effort to recover the economy, especially through the creative economic MSMEs (micro, small, and medium enterprises),” the minister said at the Jakarta Conventional Center Senayan, here on Wednesday.
The minister made the statement at the opening of the INACRAFT 2022, the largest craft exhibition in Southeast Asia, which is being held at JCC Senayan from March 23 to 27 this year, the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry said in a press release.
Based on the data of the Focus Economy Outlook 2020, the tourism and creative economic sector contributed Rp1,100 trillion to Indonesia's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020.
Uno said his ministry will continue to help boost national economic growth by creating a good ecosystem for creative economic actors to develop.
"Creative economy is a future industry that plays a big role in building the national economy. They are job creators and openers for the recovery of the people's economy. So I really support it," he remarked.
This year, INACRAFT is promoting various handicraft products to encourage economic revival and create job opportunities.
The ministry's pavilion is seeking to promote and market 16 selected brands of handicraft products.
Earlier, President Joko Widodo, in his opening remarks at the exhibition, expressed appreciation for the implementation of INACRAFT 2022. He called on Indonesians to endorse domestic products.
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"I invite people to love domestically made products, especially handicraft products; this will advance our crafters, advance our MSMEs," the President said.
The government canceled INACRAFT in 2020 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and held the event virtually in 2021.
This year's event is featuring an INACRAFT Virtual Exhibition, INACRAFT Marketplace, and INACRAFT x Tokopedia.
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Translator: M Baqir Alatas, Fardah
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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