Jakarta (ANTARA) - Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan, recently appointed by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) during the Advanced Indonesia Cabinet's third reshuffle, expressed confidence to immediately solve ongoing issues of the distribution and control of prices of cooking oil.

"I think my background and experience will certainly help a lot in the future to immediately resolve the (matter of) availability of cooking oil anywhere at an affordable price," Hasan told reporters after the inauguration at the State Palace in Jakarta, Wednesday.

The National Mandate Party (PAN) chairman also lauded the performance of his predecessor, Muhammad Lutfi, along with Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, who he said had worked hard to solve the problem.

Hasan expressed readiness to cooperate with the ranks at the Ministry of Trade to continue efforts to solve the issue of availability and control of prices of cooking oil.

"We would work together to solve this cooking oil problem, which was our priority. All parties would be involved. We cannot do this alone. This is a big job," he emphasized.

Responding to a query on how long it would take him to resolve the issue of availability and price of cooking oil in the market, Hasan said he would seek some time to complete the handover process at the Ministry of Trade before speaking further.

Hasan suggested that one approach to achieve this was by distributing cooking oil in simple packaging to the public.

"I proposed that idea a month ago. I met some people that said the cooking oil distribution with tank will hamper the process, with the possibility of leaks. However, if we used simple packaging, it would reach a wider distribution location-wise. Furthermore, we would work on the cooking oil distribution to be on target," he concluded.
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Translator: Gilang Galiartha, Resinta S
Editor: Suharto
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