economy

Visit The Batik Gallery At Sentra Batik Gunung Pati, Where The Minister Of Trade Encourages SMEs To Explore The Export Market

Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan encourages small and medium enterprises (SMEs) at the Natural Dye Batik Center in Gunung Pati, Semarang, Central Java to explore the export market. One way is by participating in the 39th Trade Expo Indonesia (TEI) which will be held on October 9-12, 2024. This exhibition aims to make Indonesian products more global.

This was conveyed by Minister Zulkifli Hasan when visiting and having a dialogue with SMEs at the Natural Dye Batik Center in Gunung Pati, Semarang, today, Saturday (8/6). The dialogue was attended by 100 SMEs.

"Every time I go to a region, I always visit SMEs, especially businesses that are the hallmark of that region. Here, we have batik. Batik has become a world-class product. Therefore, I appreciate the government's support for artisans, industries, and SMEs in this sector, continuously with all efforts," explained Minister Zulkifli Hasan.

The Natural Dye Batik Center in Gunung Pati, located in Malon village, was designated as one of the 16 areas receiving the Thematic Village Program in the city of Semarang. The batik artisans who are part of the Batik Malon Village group agreed to use natural dyes to produce batik with an environmental-friendly spirit.

The Natural Dye Batik Center in Gunung Pati is known for its production of natural colored batik originating from plants, such as indigo leaves, mangrove waste, mahogany bark, secang, tegeran, and jelawe. This is certainly very attractive to buyers from various countries.

Minister Zulkifli Hasan encourages SMEs at the Natural Dye Batik Center in Gunung Pati to participate in TEI 2024 with the assistance of the local government in order to promote their products internationally.

The best SME actors will be selected with the assistance of the local government so that artisans do not have to spend money to promote their products at TEI 2024 in order to go international. If you want to export, TEI is the place to be. It is estimated that 40 thousand buyers from 180 countries, such as India and countries in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa, will visit TEI," explained Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan.

In addition, Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan emphasized the importance of collaboration and cooperation from various parties to promote Indonesian products. He also mentioned that the Ministry of Trade has trade representatives abroad such as the Indonesian Trade Promotion Center (ITPC) and Trade Attaché (Atdag) who can assist SME actors in marketing their products in the global market.

"The keyword is collaboration between batik entrepreneurs, local government, central government, ambassadors, and trade representatives from around the world. Ambassadors and Trade representatives bring buyers from abroad to TEI 2024. So, it's all about cooperation," concluded Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan.

Also present during the visit were the Acting Head of the Department of Industry and Trade of Central Java Province, Sakina Rosellasari. Accompanying Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan was the Director General of Domestic Trade, Isy Karim.