Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Investment Ministry facilitates partnerships between large businesses and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), with a total value of Rp143.84 billion.
The initiative was marked by the signing of seven cooperation contracts between large businesses and MSMEs at the Investment Partnership Forum here on Wednesday.
Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia remarked that business players had an important contribution in national economic growth in the midst of the current global turmoil.
Lahadalia believes business actors contribute to advancements in the regional economy, though the impact would not be as great if they did not collaborate with local MSMEs, so that they too could feel the positive impact of the coming investment.
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“They have to share so as to empower local people, so that local people become masters in their own land. Therefore, the Investment Ministry is very committed to helping entrepreneurs, including MSMEs," he remarked.
To facilitate the partnership program, the ministry has also launched a partnership system feature in the risk-based Online Single Submission (OSS) system that can also be accessed directly through the partnership.oss.go.id.
This feature enables partnerships between Domestic Investment (PMDN) entrepreneurs and MSMEs in the regions that were earlier conducted manually via recommendations by regions, business associations, ministries, and institutions.
Investment partnerships between large businesses and MSMEs are mandated by Law Number 11 of 2020 concerning Job Creation and its derivative regulations, such as Investment Ministry's Regulation Number 1 of 2022 on procedures of partnerships in the investment aspect between large enterprises and MSMEs.
The importance of such partnerships is also highlighted in paragraph 37 of the Leader's Declaration resulting from the G20 Summit in Bali in November 2022.
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Deputy for investment and mining coordination at the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment Septian Hario Seto believes that partnerships between large businesses and MSMEs would serve as the key to Indonesia's economic defense in the coming year. Through partnerships, MSMEs in the regions will also advance at a similar pace with the development of large businesses.
“Partnership plays an important role. If large investments come in, then we urge for partnerships, and automatically, MSMEs in the regions will develop. This becomes important to do monitoring. Hence, it is not just 'okay, we have committed' at the beginning, but there needs to be monitoring of the partnership's execution," Seto remarked.
Based on the ministry's data from February to December 5, 2022, a total of Rp4.46 trillion worth of cooperation agreements were recorded from the collaboration forged between 235 entrepreneurs and 421 regional MSMEs.
As a token of appreciation for collaborative efforts with regional MSMEs, they also awarded 10 large businesses that had pursued partnership contracts valued at a total of Rp72.89 billion.
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