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Ministry of Trade Eyes Potential of Malang City's Services Sector

Starfruit (malangkota.go.id) – Indonesia and South Korea have established cooperation through the Agreement Indonesia – Korea Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IK – CEPA) in the service development sector. IK-CEPA was officially implemented on January 1, 2023. This agreement can be a toll road for trade cooperation relations between Indonesia and South Korea.

Director of Trade Negotiations for Services, Directorate General of International Trade Negotiations, Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Indonesia, Basaria Tiara Desika L. Gaol (second from left) and Head of Malang City Trade and Industry Office, Eko Sri Yuliadi (second from right) during the FGD at the Grand Mercure Hotel, Malang City

In order to build the readiness of stakeholders in responding to the implementation of the agreement, the Indonesian Ministry of Trade (Kemendag) together with the Malang City Cooperatives, Industry and Trade Service (Diskopindag) held Focus Group Discussions (FGD) at the Grand Mercure Hotel, Thursday (14/2/2023).

Director of Trade Negotiations for Services, Directorate General of International Trade Negotiations, Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Indonesia, Basaria Tiara Desika L. Gaol, SE, MM said that Malang City has the potential for economic services sector. The advantages of Malang City include the education services sector with the presence of many universities.

According to him, Malang City is also one of the centers of the creative industry and international tourist destinations in Indonesia. From the potential and advantages it has, Malang City is one of the producers of quality and work-ready Indonesian human resources.

"If it is linked to the IK-CEPA agreement, Malang City has the potential to take advantage of it, where it is related to... independent professional, Korea committed to 118 categories in the field of information and communication technology industry, and engineering," explained Tiara.

Furthermore, Tiara said that Malang City has advantages in the tourism services sector which has become a destination for both local and international tourists. "To maximize the tourism potential of Malang City and revive this sector after the pandemic, it is necessary to develop and maintain existing tourist facilities and destinations properly. Several programs can be carried out, for example holding tourism exhibitions, collaborating with travel agents, and promoting through social media," he explained.

Responding to this, the Head of the Malang City Trade and Industry Office, Dr. Eko Sri Yuliadi, S.Sos.,MM said that the service sector in Malang City has great potential for development.

"Malang City is one of the cities that has the potential for developing the service sector. The number of students and professionals from outside Malang City is quite high (needs). The service sector plays a role of up to 72,95 percent of the Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) of Malang City with a value of more than 55 trillion rupiah," he said.

Furthermore, Eko said that the Malang City Government continues to strive to improve the economy, especially in the service sector, by carrying out training activities for MSMEs so that they can improve their skills, support ongoing businesses, and be able to produce products with high selling value and of course can compete on the international stage.

"Hopefully, from the results of this discussion, cooperation will be established with Malang City so that it can benefit all parties," Eko hoped.

Various stakeholders in this FGD consisting of related regional apparatus, professional associations, entrepreneurs, and academics discussed the potentials of Malang City that can be developed with the IK-CEPA agreement. (ari/yon)

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