Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs Teten Masduki visit Vietnam on March 21-22 in an effort to strengthen economic cooperation between Indonesia and Vietnam, especially in the cooperative sector, MSMEs, and food production.
“As fellow ASEAN countries, Indonesia and Vietnam have relatively similar economic potential so it is necessary to establish cooperation to build collaboration to strengthen the domestic advantages of both countries,” Teten said in a press release from the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs here on Thursday.
During his visit, Teten met with several high-ranking officials in Khanh Hoa Province, namely Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Nguyen Hai Ninh and Chairman of the Khanh Hoa Provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Tan Tuan.
Teten said the potential of the two countries can be optimized through collaboration in increasing food production and downstreaming involving cooperatives and MSMEs, one of which is through the development of a digital agricultural ecosystem.
Moreover, the ASEAN region has great potential in agriculture and fisheries. This is evidenced by data from the World Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) which shows that ASEAN will produce 16.4 percent of the world’s total fish production in 2022. This is equivalent to 33.7 million tons of the total 205.6 million tons of global fish production.
FAO data also shows that more than a fifth of the world’s rice production in 2023 will come from ASEAN countries, namely 181.4 million tons from a total of 793.7 million tons of world rice production.
Other cooperation that needs to be strengthened, Teten said, is in the field of research and development in the agricultural and fisheries sectors to improve the quality and competitiveness of cooperative and MSME products in the global market.
“It is also important to increase cooperation in developing business models and partnerships in fisheries and agriculture supply chains in ASEAN,” Teten said.
Teten said the strengthening of this cooperation will have an impact on the expansion of quality employment in both countries. Currently, 27.02 percent of the total workforce in ASEAN works in the agriculture, fisheries and forestry sectors, as per ASEAN Secretariat data, 2023.
This quality employment is considered indispensable so that the younger generation is more involved in the sector.
According to the ASEAN Secretariat (2022), ASEAN has 224.2 million young people with 53 percent Gen Z (15-25 years old) and 47 percent millennials (26-35 years old).
Teten revealed that Indonesia is currently focusing on developing several downstream initiatives, ranging from agricultural products, fisheries, livestock, to cooperative-based plantations.
A number of innovations in the Kemenkop UKM program related to downstreaming, including the downstreaming of palm oil into red edible oil and the development of a number of superior commodities by cooperatives through the Joint Production House.