The Minister of Industry, Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita, said that although the Hannover Messe 2023 had not been officially opened, as of last Friday, a Business to Business (B to B) contract worth USD 2 billion had been signed. "After the 2023 Hannover Messe (HM) opens on April 16 2023, there will continue to be investment cooperation from companies entering Indonesia," he said after holding a meeting with students and diaspora from Indonesia in Berlin, Germany. In his written statement, Saturday (15/4/2023), Agus revealed, Indonesia is the only country in the world that has become an official partner country three times, and has become a partner country twice in three consecutive years.
"Alhamdulillah, DMAG has again chosen Indonesia once again for HM 2023. This should not be wasted, and we must make the best use of our existence as a partner country," said the Minister of Industry,
The Minister of Industry arrived in Germany, Friday (14/4) local time. During preparations for the 2023 Hannover Messe on 17-21 April 2023, the Minister of Industry accompanied the Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto in holding a meeting with students and diaspora from Indonesia in Berlin, Germany.
"Industry performance was quite encouraging, as indicated by the manufacturing Purchasing Manager's Index (PMI) which has been above 50 points for 16 consecutive months. Finally, it rose from 51.2 in February 2023 to 51.9 in March 2023. This shows that the confidence in the manufacturing industry is quite high," said Agus.
As stated by the Coordinating Minister for the Economy at the same forum, manufacturing exports reached USD 206 billion and contributed 70% of Indonesia's total exports.
Labor absorption in this sector has also returned to normal, even higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic. "Departing from the good performance of the manufacturing sector, Indonesia is also quite serious in accelerating electric vehicles (EV)," said Agus.
The government issues various policies that are expected to accelerate the development of the EV ecosystem. Among them, providing assistance to purchase electric motorbikes for IKM and MSMEs actors so that the benefits provided are productive," said the Minister of Industry.
Regarding the condition of several manufacturing sub-sectors which were still under pressure, such as the textile and textile product (TPT) industry, Agus explained that there was a weak market influence, including the European market.
This put industrial companies in a difficult position. However, the results of the Industrial Confidence Index (IKI) survey conducted by the Ministry of Industry show that the textile industry has started to rebound in the last three to four months, approaching the level of 50.
The Ministry of Industry will focus on overseeing the increased use of domestic products (P3DN) to protect domestic industries. This principle is also applied in establishing cooperative relations with other countries, including the Indonesia-European Union Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (I-EU CEPA) negotiations.
"We support the implementation of the agreement which is also designed to maintain the competitiveness of the industrial sector in Indonesia," concluded Agus.
