The Minister of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Teten Masduki suggested that imported products, such as textile products from China, enter Indonesia through the Port of Sorong, Papua. According to him, this step could be a way to protect the products of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). In addition, to revive the trade balance. "So that there is more cost to go to Java. So, the shipping business enters, the sea toll, Mr. President, runs," Teten said at the Road To Indonesia Startup Ecosystem Summit 2023 event in Solo which was broadcast live via the Ministry of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises YouTube on Friday, August 11, 2023.

If imported products enter Indonesia via Sorong, said Teten, the logistical burden could be more evenly distributed. Because so far, the logistics load has been one-sided. Most of the products transported from Java to Papua or from west to east. On the other hand, the charge from east to west is empty.

"So, prices in Eastern Indonesia are more expensive because logistics costs are charged," said Teten.

Recently, protecting local MSME products seems to be Teten's focus. He conveyed this on a number of occasions. The idea of porting imported products to the Port of Sorong was not the only idea that was conveyed by Teten.

Recently, Teten has been intensively expressing encouragement so that imported products that are allowed to enter Indonesia are products with a minimum price of US$ 100 or around Rp. 1.5 million. This proposal is one of the points in the revision of the Minister of Trade Regulation (Permendag) Number 50 of 2020 concerning Provisions for Business Licensing, Advertising, Guidance and Supervision of Business Players in Trading Through Electronic Systems.

The protection measure was taken by Teten with the excuse that cheap goods would not enter the domestic market. "In the country we can also make it," said Teten, Sunday, August 6, 2023.