If it only became a consumption base, Indonesia would became the object of liberalization. Indonesia is the biggest consumer base in ASEAN with its population reaching 241 million,Minister of Cooperatives and Small-Enterprises Sjarifuddin said.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia can become an object of liberalization if in the coming three years it is unable to accelerate the development of its production bases and increase the competitive edge of its domestic products, a minister said.

"Indonesia only has three more years before the ASEAN Economic Community is realized. This is a very short time for Indonesia to prepare itself and develop its production bases," Minister of Cooperatives and Small-Enterprises Sjarifuddin said.

The minister made the remarks in a discussion with 100 young entrepreneurs and PT Microsoft Indonesia.

He said that if it only became a consumption base, Indonesia would became the object of liberalization. Indonesia is the biggest consumer base in ASEAN with its population reaching 241 million.

"If in the coming three years, Indonesia is not able to materialize its production base, it will be swallowed by liberalization," the minister said.

The minister explained that the other biggest threat facing Indonesia was the human resource service sector. Currently, ASEAN still restricts the liberalization of its human services to specialists, managers and directors.

But the penetration of manpower from outside would sooner or later take place. "The unemployment rate at home is still very high. Liberalization has become an international language so that whether it is ready or not, Indonesia will face it," the minister said.

Therefore, now is the time for all sides in the country to have the commitment to increasing the quality of human resources and building the capacity of the country`s entrepreneurs, according to Minister Sjarifuddin Hasan.

He said that ideally, to develop the people`s prosperity and advancement, a country should have at least two percent entrepreneurs of its population.

Up to now, Indonesia`s entrepreneurs were registered at 3.7 million or about 1.59 percent of its population.

"We are trying to increase the ratio between the number of entrepreneurs and that of the population so that the ideally ratio of two percent could be achieved," he added.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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