Suasana pameran SMESCO FESTIVAL di Jakarta Convention Center, Jakarta, Kamis 19 Juni 2014. SMESCO Festival 2014 terdiri dari Pameran Provinsi yang menampilkan produk unggulan KUKM 34 Provinsi dan 49 Kabupaten/Kota dan pameran internasional menampilkan produk UKM luar negeri. TEMPO/Tony Hartawan
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - House of Representative’s Commission XI member Indah Kurnia on Saturday, September 20, 2014, called on provincial and regency/city governments to empower small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to welcome the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015.
According to Indah, the government can provide SMEs with assistance on capital, business mentoring and product packaging to boost their competitiveness when the AEC commences. Indah added that SME empowerment would be a solution to reduce poverty in the country.
Indah praised a program, crafted by Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini, called the “economic heroes”, targeting housewives to open tens of thousands job opportunities.
Indah added that the SMEs empowerment program is one of Soekarno’s trisakti (three powers) in realizing the state’s independent economy.