San Francisco | There are two priorities that need attention from ASEAN and the United States (US), namely cooperation in MSMEs as well as technology and the digital economy.
This was conveyed by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), who was accompanied by Minister of Communication and Informatics (Menkominfo) Rudiantara, in San Francisco on Tuesday local time, as quoted in his press release in Jakarta, Wednesday (17/2/2016).
"MSMEs are the backbone of the economy in Indonesia and ASEAN. Around 88.8-99.9 percent of businesses in ASEAN are MSMEs, and they absorb 51.7-97.2 percent of the workforce in ASEAN," he explained.
In Indonesia, Jokowi continued, MSMEs have strong resilience that enables them to support the country's economy, even during a global crisis.
Jokowi added that MSMEs often face challenges, particularly in capacity building, access to capital and alternative financing, access to technology, access to global markets, and integration into regional and global supply chains.
Therefore, Jokowi sees the need for ASEAN-US cooperation to ensure sustainable support for the development and resilience of MSMEs, particularly in terms of market access and knowledge transfer from large companies to MSMEs.
"Technology and the digital economy are inevitabilities in the era of digitalization. Every government must ensure that this era brings benefits to the people, especially MSMEs. MSMEs must have access to technology and the digital economy," Jokowi emphasized.
Indonesia has a vision to become the largest digital economy country by 2020. Therefore, Indonesia strongly supports ASEAN-US cooperation in the field of information technology, particularly in leveraging the digital economy for the public. (source: metrotvnews.com)