The government continues to encourage the implementation of community economic empowerment programs by developing export villages. The export village is a program related to the achievement of several development targets such as poverty alleviation, increasing non-oil and gas exports, the growth of MSMEs and entrepreneurship, as well as the realization of an independent village. That way, the village is expected not only as a raw materials provider but also for export-standard processing with added value and will expand marketing abroad. In line with this mission, the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs coordinated the signing of a joint agreement on community economic empowerment through the development of export villages carried out by the Ministry of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions, and Transmigration (Kemendes PDTT) with PT Astra International Tbk. (ASII) and the Indonesian Export Financing Agency (LPEI), some time ago. This Collective Agreement will be followed up with the signing of a collective work agreement (PKB) between the parties and the preparation of action plans in selected locations. Deputy for the Coordination of the Digital Economy, Employment, and MSMEs at the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy M. Rudy Salahuddin in his remarks said the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy supports the implementation of this collaboration through coordination, synchronization, and control of policies and programs so that this can achieve the expected targets.
Meanwhile, the targets of strengthening community entrepreneurship and MSMEs based on the development of rural superior products include increasing the productivity of the lower middle class, creating job opportunities for people with low education, and creating added value for local potential. "This will ultimately increase the income of rural communities sustainably and alleviate poverty. Export activities of superior rural products produced by MSMEs and Bumdes are also expected to be a driving force for the economy and welfare of rural communities," said Rudy, citing a press release, Sunday (6/3/2022). Currently, Astra International has developed 930 Astra Sejahtera Villages (DSA) with four product clusters, namely the coffee cluster; agricultural, processed, and commodity clusters; marine and capture fisheries clusters; as well as tourism, creative, cultural clusters. Meanwhile, the curation of village potential that has been managed by the Ministry of Village, PDTT, and Astra International will be carried out by LPEI. The selected villages will be given assistance, training, and guidance, starting from the management aspect, increasing production capacity, product standardization certification, business matching, and financing for exporters.
