Tangerang – Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno has targeted the creative economy sector to absorb 4.4 million domestic workers by 2024.
“In 2022, our target is to create 1.1 million new jobs, and (we will) continue to encourage it to reach 4.4 million new jobs in 2024 by empowering micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs),” he stated at an event titled “the 2022 Appreciation for Creations of Indonesia (AKI)” here on Sunday.
The minister emphasized the need for sound synergy among central and regional governments, as well as other stakeholders in order to realize the target.
Through the 2022 AKI, Indonesian creative economy products are expected to receive wider appreciation and recognition, so it can encourage the opening of 4.4 million new working opportunities in the sector.
However, the minister has appealed to all creative industry stakeholders to be aware of current economic developments owing to the threat of the global food and energy crisis.
“We must collaborate to ensure that the solutions we provide (for economic problems) are in accordance with the needs of the community,” he remarked.
In addition, he expressed optimism that implementation of the 2022 AKI would encourage creative economy players to boost their product capacity and digital innovation to enable them to enter a bigger market in future.
“We, the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry, are very optimistic that our local MSME products can be competitive (in the market) and reduce unemployment in Indonesia,” he stated.
On the occasion, he also highlighted the potential of local culinary MSMEs to advance their businesses, as food and beverage products are viewed to have vast opportunities to be promoted in both domestic and international markets.
“Each of the 27 displayed products (in the event) had been improved, digitized, as well as developed to create more product variations in accordance with the demand of the community,” he stated.
Uno remarked that implementation of the 2022 AKI, which was collaborated with Shopee as one of the e-commerce platforms in Indonesia, was expected to encourage onboarding of more local MSMEs to the digital market.
“We laud Shopee’s support to increase the digital (economy) capacity in various cities and districts (throughout Indonesia),” he added.
Meanwhile, Head of Government Affairs of Shopee Indonesia Ade Mulya highlighted the company’s commitment to supporting the digitization of MSMEs in Indonesia.
Mulya said his side’s collaboration with the ministry in the implementation of 2022 AKI could assist local MSMEs to gain the benefits of digital platforms to optimally develop their business.