"We need to be optimistic. Our market is quite large, and our population is almost 300 million (people)," he stated at the 2022 Innovation Conference (ICON) held by GDP Venture here on Thursday.
The minister noted that if more micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are connected to the digital ecosystem, the upsurge of the population centered in Java and Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, Bekasi (Jabodetabek) areas can be avoided since MSME actors can sell their products online, so that they no longer have to sell them offline in big cities.
President Joko Widodo is said to have assigned Minister Masduki to work on a digital economy development policy with three main missions, with the first being to protect domestic e-commerce.
"Do not be like India (where the e-commerce is) dominated by foreign capital," he pointed out.
Under the second mission, the government aims to protect MSMEs by opening business opportunities in various digital platforms that are required to provide the opportunity for MSME players to sell their products online.
"Third, we want to protect consumers. Do not let them experience losses," he remarked.
The government is paying significant attention to the digital economy, as Indonesia is projected to become a country, with the largest digital economy value potential in Southeast Asia by 2030, at around Rp4,500 trillion.
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He called on MSMEs to capitalize on this opportunity, so that foreign products do not dominate the country's digital economy market.
"I am starting to get nervous now. We are pushing MSMEs to go digital, but majority of those (products) sold in e-commerce are foreign products, imported products. This is indeed a challenge for the government. Hence, the government is trying to redesign our national digital economy policy," he remarked.
Masduki drew attention to a presidential regulation that regulates the digital economy, though only related to e-commerce. In fact, social commerce, gaming commerce, and TV commerce have emerged that have the potential to continue to grow.
To this end, the government is striving to create a new policy that will regulate all sales models in the digital ecosystem.
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Translator: M Baqir, Raka Adji
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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