Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment underscored the need for the Indonesian Festival Citizen's Party to be emulated all across the state's territories.

"Similar events can be emulated in regions in a bid to introduce Indonesian brands so as to encourage people to buy local products," the deputy of tourism and creative economy at the ministry, Odo RM Manuhutu, stated at the Indonesian Festival Citizen's Party here on Saturday.

He affirmed that the government commended all associations and business players that have participated in the event.

He also expected the event to be made more festive with each passing year.

On the same occasion, deputy of digital economy and creative economy at the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry Muhammad Neil El Himam also commended everyone for the event that has been initiated.

"This event serves as celebration and evidence of the commitment from members of Indonesia's E-Commerce Association (idEA) and Proudly Made in Indonesia Initiative, comprising dozens of ministries and state agencies, regional governments, as well as other stakeholders, which has kicked off since 2020," he remarked.

Himam said that the ministry is committed to collaborating in pursuing the Proudly Made in Indonesia Initiative, supporting more MSMEs and creative economy players to engage in digital platforms, and also improving the people's purchasing power to allow them to buy creative economy players' products.

In the fourth year of the initiative, at the end of 2022, some 21.4 million MSMEs, small and medium industries, and artisans alike had engaged in e-commerce platforms, he explained.

"We have to be grateful for such achievement. However, we must not forget the target set by the president to have 30 million business players get on board (with e-commerce platforms) by 2023-end," he pointed out.

He stressed that such target highlights the need to aggressively promote the initiative so as to boost the amount of transactions and purchases of local products.

Himam noted that the program is the ministry's endeavor to integrate Proudly Made in Indonesia Initiative with Proudly Traveling in Indonesia Initiative.

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Translator: Aji Cakti, Mecca Yumna
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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