Heaptalk, Jakarta — The second wave of the Jakarta International Handicraft Trade Fair, INACRAFT 2022, has been officially opened by Indonesia’s Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno, at Plenary Hall JCC, Jakarta (10/26).
Inaugurating INACRAFT 2.0, Minister Sandi stated, “Primarily, I deliver my big appreciation to ASEPHI and other stakeholders for their triumph in realizing the INACRAFT as a brand and also proud of the promoter spirit for conducting this expo into two series in bridging the vast enthusiasm of Indonesia’s SMEs to recover the national economy,”
In his further statement, during the 22 years of the exhibition journey, Sandi delivered excellent recognition as this expo accomplished the transaction of USD8.9 million or nearly Rp140 billion before the pandemic era. However, as COVID-19 hit the world, he observed a decrease in transactions to USD3.6 million, or equal to only Rp57 billion.
Despite this diminishment, Sandi has a strong confidence to enhance the transaction value by adopting a digital ecosystem devoted to SMEs in Indonesia. Thus, he affirmed that the Ministry party would support the digital implementation by providing training and guidance to assist the Proud of Indonesia Made partners to elevate their trading through the digital platform.
Through the second wave of INACRAFT 2022, Sandi aims to target around 1,000 creative economy players to absorb 1.1 million job opportunities by the end of this year and unlock 4.4 million job vacancies in 2024. This goal is also expected to increase the export activity in Indonesia. As explained by the Minister of Tourism Sandi, Indonesia’s export rate around the creative economy industry has reached USD25 billion and is hoped to emerge USD275 billion this year.
“Amid the economic deceleration and the recession issue, the power of the domestic market must be the mainstay. Thus, the entire stakeholders should continue arranging their business strategy plan to accelerate Indonesia’s SMEs through funding and marketing. I believe the INACRAFT program can enhance the sales rate to mitigate the recession potential in 2023,”
Enlivened by around 370 exhibitors, including 90% individual participants of ASEPHI members and 10% guided SMEs of Ministries and State Owned Enterprises, the second chapter of this craft exhibition is believed to attract 50,000 visitors and exceeds 50% of earlier transactions or approximately USD4.1 million for offline dealing and obtain USD6,421 for online trade through the INACRAFT marketplace.
