Jakarta (ANTARA) - Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan has said he is optimistic that Indonesia will become a hub of the world's Muslim fashion with the help of its cultural diversity, local wisdom, and human resources.

"A variety of traditional Indonesian fabrics with philosophical values have become sources of creativity for Indonesian Muslim fashion designers and business players that other countries do not have. This is the key to realizing Indonesia as the world's Muslim fashion hub by 2024," he said at the Road to Jakarta Muslim Fashion Week (JMFW) 2023 event here on Tuesday.

JMFW is a platform created by the Trade Ministry's Directorate General of National Export Development in collaboration with the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin).

According to Hasan, the market potential for Muslim and modest fashion is quite large. Thus, Indonesia's role must be even greater, considering that the world's Muslim population is equivalent to 25 percent of the total global population. Moreover, by 2060, it is predicted to increase to 30 percent.

In addition, purchases of modest fashion products have increased by 6.1 percent in the past four years.

At the event, the minister also held a dialogue with designers regarding the development of the Muslim fashion industry in Indonesia, the development of competence of designers and Indonesian Muslim fashion business players, as well as the support and role of the Ministry of Trade for realizing Indonesia as the world's Muslim fashion hub through JMFW 2023.

“The domestic market is important, but this is time to go global," Hasan remarked.

He affirmed that his ministry is ready to fully support efforts to turn Indonesia into a global Muslim fashion hub.

Based on data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS), the export value of Muslim fashion in the first half of 2022 reached US$2.85 billion, up 39.86 percent compared to the same period in 2021, when the figure was recorded at US$2.04 billion.

Meanwhile, in 2021, the country's Muslim fashion exports reached US$4.68 billion, an increase of 12.49 percent from US$4.16 billion in 2020.

However, Indonesia is still ranked 13th as the world's exporter of Muslim clothing, with a share of around 1.86 percent, which is lower than China, Bangladesh, and Vietnam. Meanwhile, the United States, Japan, Germany, Canada, and South Korea are the top five Indonesian Muslim fashion export destination countries.

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Translator: Sella Panduarsa, Raka Adji
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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