Jakarta (ANTARA) - Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno has said that the presence of around 400 Indonesian culinary businesses spread across the Netherlands could potentially increase the exports of spices from Indonesia.
"This shows that a big opportunity has opened to develop the Netherlands as Indonesia's culinary hub in Europe in terms of quality, concept, and quantity," he said in a statement released on Tuesday.
Uno is fully supporting the development of restaurants and the distribution of Indonesian spices to the Netherlands, one of the countries targeted by the "Indonesia Spice Up the World" program.
One of the forms of support was the Investment Dialogue Series event, which was held in collaboration with the Indonesian embassy in Den Haag. The event was organized to improve knowledge of the opportunities for Indonesian restaurant investment in the Netherlands.
"Indonesia Spice Up the World" is a program that has been devised to accelerate the achievement of the targets of opening 4,000 Indonesian restaurants abroad and increasing the exports of spices from the country to US$2 billion.
Meanwhile, the Indonesian Ambassador to the Netherlands, Mayerfas, said that the number of Indonesian restaurants in the Netherlands is indeed quite large and its further growth is being encouraged.
According to him, there are several entrepreneurs who are planning to invest in Indonesian restaurants in the Netherlands. He expressed optimism that Indonesian foods will be among the main foods in the Netherlands and Europe.
"The demand will continue to grow from time to time. Thus, we are optimistic that efforts to increase the marketing of Indonesian spices abroad will be very big," he said.
He added that his side is also cooperating with micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), including farmers, to increase Indonesia's market share in the Netherlands.
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