Jakarta (ANTARA) - Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita has urged small and medium industry (IKM) actors in the automotive sector to prepare themselves for the electric vehicle (EV) trend that is currently developing in the world.

During the Indonesia-Japan Autoparts Business Forum in Nagoya, Japan, on Monday, he stressed that the government is supporting the growth and acceleration of EVs in Indonesia end-to-end.

This has included the creation of an EV ecosystem.

"This is because Indonesia has strategic value that no other country has, which is an abundance of nickel as the raw material for EV batteries," he informed.

"I expect that IKMs would prepare themselves to enter the electric vehicle world in Indonesia," he said.

The minister also asked IKM actors producing automotive components to transform by digitalizing their production process.

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"This is so that the production process for IKM actors can be made more efficient," he explained.

The quality of products created by the local small and medium automotive industries does not need to be questioned, he said.

Currently, there are 122 automotive IKMs making products meeting international standards, namely ISO 900, ISO 14001, and ISO 180001, as well as the automotive standards of car factories.

The growth of the manufacturing sector, which has been higher than the growth of the national economy in the past two quarters, has also continued to improve, he noted.

"The growth of the manufacturing industry during the first quarter this year was 5.47 percent yoy (year on year), which is higher than the growth of the national economy at 5.01 percent," the minister said.

The growth of the manufacturing industry also aligns with auto parts exports, which have continued to grow annually from 61 million components shipped in 2020 to 85 million components in 2021.

"This is also closely related to Indonesia's effort to make Indonesia an export hub for internal combustion engines (ICEs) or EV-based motor vehicles," he added.

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Translator: Ade irma Junida, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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