Opening Commerce Ministry Meeting, President Appreciates People’s Market Revitalization Program

The Ministry of Commerce held a working meeting in 2019 which took place from March 12 to 13, 2019. On the theme “Increase added value and competitive trade”, this working meeting was opened directly by President Ir H. Joko Widodo at ICE BSD, March 12, 2019, as well as the inauguration and award ceremony of the Indonesian People’s Market.

Enggartiasto Lukita, Minister of Commerce of the Republic of Indonesia, said in his remarks that three mandates of the President in the Ministry of Commerce have been implemented throughout 2018, namely to maintain price stability and availability commodities, increasing Indonesian exports and developing and revitalizing popular markets.

In 2018, the Ministry of Commerce succeeded in stabilizing the price of commodities, as evidenced by the decline in the value of inflation from 8.3% in 2014 to 3.31% in 2018. “It is not of course not only the work of the Ministry of Trade, but the synergy of all ministries. This is led directly by the president and thanks to the hard work of governors, regents and market managers across the country to ensure the availability of food at affordable prices, ”said Minister of Commerce Enggartiasto Lukita.

President Joko Widodo added that over the past four years the world economy has been in bad shape or has fallen so that it has affected the world economy and many countries have been unable to maintain their economic growth. . However, Indonesia was able to withstand the effects of the global economy and the Indonesian economy managed to grow at 5.17 percent.

“In fact, compared to the G20 countries, we are in third position, behind India and China. We should be grateful for that, ”President Joko Widodo said.

At the same time, in an effort to increase exports from Indonesia, the Ministry of Commerce has entered into various trade agreements with several countries, such as Chile, Australia, and in particular with Palestine. In addition, the Ministry of Commerce is also diversifying the export market and opening up new business destinations, such as Mozambique, Tunisia, Morocco, EU, Korea, Turkey and Bangladesh.

Amid the escalating trade war between China and the United States and weak demand for global exports, Indonesia’s total exports remain positive, both in value and volume. The total value of Indonesian exports increased by 6.7%, from US $ 168.8 billion in 2017 to US $ 180 billion in 2018.

Finally, the Ministry of Commerce aims to build and revitalize 5,248 people markets during the period 2015-2019, because markets are the engine and spearhead of the Indonesian economy. Until 2018, the Ministry of Commerce, in collaboration with governments and local agencies, managed to build 4,211 people markets, and in 2019 the goal is to complete 1,037 additional markets.

The construction that was carried out was not only physical, but also provided training in management and financial management. During this period, there was the largest increase in revenue of 200 percent, so that on average it was around 24.4 percent per year.

“I would like to thank and thank the Ministry of Commerce, which until 2018 built around 4,211 popular markets, both for development and revitalization, plus 8,900 small village markets in the regions. This means that we have really paid close attention to the market over the past four years, ”said President Joko Widodo.

However, President Joko Widodo stressed the need for public market players to prepare for the advent of the digital age. To this end, President Joko Widodo asked the Ministry of Commerce to prepare the online ecosystem and improve its offline ecosystem, from the packaging, labeling, at Branding. These three elements are the weaknesses of MSMEs in Indonesia.

In this industrial 4.0 era, speed is an important key to success, whether it is working speed or service speed.

“In the future, a fast country will beat a slow country, not a large country will beat a small country. Ready or not ready, Industry 4.0 will come to us, ”said Joko Widodo. “If all of these (markets of people) are connected together, it will be a huge force, and over time it will go global, not only physically, but also in terms of turnover.”

Popular market price

After opening a meeting of the Ministry of Commerce, President Joko Widodo also awarded 14 public market awards, which are divided into four categories, namely the category Best revitalization, Environment friendly market, Disability-friendly market and Best market manager.

The winners of the Best Revitalization category were Sagalaherang Market, Subang Regency, Blimbing People’s Market, Sragen Regency and Pekalongan People’s Market, East Lampung Regency. The winners of the Environmentally Friendly Market category are Bintaro 2 Popular Market area, South Tangerang, Batusangkar C Popular Market, Tanah Datar Regency, and Gempol Popular Market, Pasuruan Regency. The winners for the Disabled-Friendly Markets category are Surakarta City Embankment Popular Market, Magelang City Rejowinangun Popular Market, and Kliwon Popular Market, Kudus Regency. Finally, the winners of the Best Market Manager category are the Purwokerto Sweet People Market in Banyumas Regency, the Agung Denpasar City People’s Market, the Gunung Sari People’s Market in Cirebon City, the Pinumpangkulan People’s Market in Manado City and the Kelapa Dua People’s Market. . , Tangerang Regency.

HM Isnaini, of Hulu Sungai Utara Regency, South Kalimantan, said that there are 25 people markets in Hulu Sungai Utara Regency which year by year its development is increasing especially in terms of facilities and infrastructure . The Ministry of Commerce itself has contributed to the physical revitalization of the market.

Isnaini said, Hulu Sungai Utara Regency has an “Amuntai Barasih” program, which is a program to improve the cleanliness of markets and the environment. This is in line with President Joko Widodo’s leadership, saying that people’s markets should be clean, have parking, not muddy, and not smell bad.

“If these things aren’t met, don’t expect consumers to come,” Joko Widodo said.

Meanwhile, Teddi Suwardi, head of industry and commerce at Tangerang Regency, who was awarded the Best Market Manager category for Pasar Kelapa Dua, expressed his gratitude to the government for its contribution to orderly measure. This orderly measure will give consumers a sense of security and comfort, in part because the scales comply with the rules.

Teddi also hopes that in the future this price will have a domino effect and cause other markets to become cleaner, better and more comfortable. “There are several categories that become guidelines or benchmarks for other markets, for example parking management, waste management and electricity management. It is coordinated at a door so that there is not a lot of levies on traders, ”concluded Teddi.