The governments of Indonesia and Japan have agreed to expand both countries' economic partnerships, including in the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) sector. The agreement was marked by the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Indonesia's Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprise Ministry and Japan's Organization for Small and Medium Enterprise and Regional Innovation (SMRJ) in Tokyo, Japan. Indonesia’s Cooperatives and SME Minister expressed hope that through this MoU and meeting will encourage more Indonesian MSMEs and Japanese business actors to establish partnerships, especially in the promotion of MSME products to the global markets, supply chain, and startup development. The minister remarked that Indonesia and Japan had enjoyed long-standing partnerships in MSME development.
The objective of the working visit is to renew the scope of cooperation between both nations to direct future partnership programs to become more focused on the development of several sectors, including MSMEs. The Ministry came with 30 selected Indonesian MSMEs, who have running businesses in various sectors. MSME actors constitute the backbone of the national economies of Indonesia and Japan, highlighting the actors’ role in creating job opportunities as well as encouraging inclusive innovation, technology, and growth. The meeting also served as a forum for identifying innovative and pragmatic measures to facilitate MSMEs’ financing and development as well as exploring cooperation, knowledge exchange, technology transfer, and activities to build MSMEs' capacity. Furthermore, both parties discussed about potential financing schemes for Indonesian MSMEs as well as opportunities for business-to-business (B2B) investment between Indonesian MSMEs with partnered Japanese companies.
