Indonesia Continues to Strengthen Its Position As A Global Partner in Manufacturing at Hannover Messe 2023

INTI,- Indonesia is proud to announce that it has been chosen for the third time as the Official Partner Country for Hannover Messe. Additionally, it has been selected as the partner country for the event twice in three consecutive years. The Indonesian Minister of Industry, Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita, expressed his gratitude for this opportunity and emphasized the importance of utilizing this partnership to its fullest potential during a press conference at the Indonesian Embassy in Berlin on Friday (April 14).

While Hannover Messe 2023 has not yet officially opened, a Business to Business (B to B) contract worth $2 billion has already been signed as of Friday. "Once HM 2023 opens on April 16, 2023, we can expect continuous investment cooperation from companies entering Indonesia," said the Minister.

Minister Agus also shared the latest developments in the Indonesian industrial sector with the Indonesian community in Germany. "The performance of the industry is quite encouraging, as shown by the Manufacturing Purchasing Manager's Index (PMI), which has been above 50 points for 16 consecutive months. The PMI increased from 51.2 in February 2023 to 51.9 in March 2023, indicating a high level of confidence among manufacturing industry players," he said.

As mentioned by the Minister of Economy in the same forum, manufacturing exports reached $206 billion, contributing 70% of Indonesia's total exports. The absorption of labor in this sector has also returned to normal, and even higher than before the Covid-19 pandemic. "Building on this good performance in the manufacturing sector, Indonesia is also serious about accelerating the development of electric vehicles (EV). The government has issued various policies to accelerate the development of the EV ecosystem, including providing assistance for the purchase of electric motorcycles for IKM and UMKM entrepreneurs to ensure that the benefits are productive," said Minister Agus.

Regarding the condition of some sub-sectors of manufacturing that are still under pressure, such as the textile and textile product (TPT) industry, Minister Agus explained that there is an influence from the weak market, including the European market, which puts industrial companies in a difficult position. However, the results of the Industry Confidence Index (IKI) survey conducted by the Ministry of Industry show that the TPT industry has started to rebound in the last three to four months, approaching the level of 50.

Minister Agus then shared that the Ministry of Industry is focused on guarding the increase in the use of domestic products (P3DN) to maintain the domestic industry. This principle is also applied in establishing cooperation with other countries, including negotiations for the Indonesia-European Union Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (I-EU CEPA). "We support the implementation of this agreement, which is also designed to maintain the competitiveness of the industrial sector in Indonesia," concluded Minister Agus.***.Hans.