inp.polri.go.id - Jakarta. Minister of Trade (Mendag) Budi Santoso invited micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to utilize technology, one of which is the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to improve business capabilities so that they can penetrate the export market.

The Minister of Trade said that the use of AI can help MSMEs in finding information related to target markets, export destination countries, foreign trade regulations to product designs that attract consumers.

MSMEs can explore various things related to business and management.

“What we meant is that they are encouraged to dare to innovate at the resource base, to adapt. So, if our MSMEs want to explore, we have to develop the resource base first, it has to be competitive, it should be properly managed,” said Budi on Friday (2/21/2025).

Furthermore, he said that the use of AI can shorten access to information faster and easier.

In addition, ease of access is believed to increase the number of business actors so that the ratio of Indonesian entrepreneurs can increase. Currently, the ratio of Indonesian entrepreneurs is still 3.47 percent.

The figure is still small, when compared to Malaysia and Thailand which are already above four percent. With the increase in the value of Indonesia's entrepreneurial ratio, the ideal of becoming a developed country by 2045 can be realized.

"If we look at Malaysia and Thailand, they are already above four percent, while Singapore is already 8.6 percent. On the other hand the requirement to become a developed country for entrepreneurial ratio is around 10 to 12 percent," noted Budi.

The ministry also has three priority programs, namely expanding the export market, securing the domestic market and increasing MSMEs to be able to export.

In addition, the Ministry of Trade also facilitates business exploration or business matching by introducing its products to prospective buyers.

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