State-owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Erick Thohir has likened SOEs as a large aircraft carrier which unites all parties to establish an economic balance.

“SOEs are one third of Indonesia’s economic strength. However, they cannot become an ivory tower that is attractive, but difficult to be held. Thus, currently, they become a huge aircraft carrier which accommodate all parties to build economic balance,” he said.

Speaking at the Launching of Project Management Office (PMO) Kopi Nusantara in Bandar Lampung City, Lampung Province, on Sunday, he continued that SOEs support business growth for all parties.

However, the enterprises must also ensure the welfare of Indonesian people since they are state-run companies which have their own corporate social responsibility, Thohir said.

Hence, the corporations strive to build various people-centered ecosystems, such as the existing Prosperity Program which provides an ecosystem that connects farmers with project leaders, insurance providers, financial institutions, agricultural technology providers, off-takers, and local governments.

The ministry wants the farmers to become more prosperous through the program.

“I assure that SOEs have changed since we have committed to collaborating with all parties,” the minister emphasized.

Earlier, he said that the state-run companies are striving to become a locomotive in building national economic resilience, and are not to compete with the private sector.

He has noted that it is impossible for any party to stand alone amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, all of them must work together since the pandemic does not only suppress the health sector, but also the economic sector.

Thus, he has stated that the pandemic must be a revival momentum for Indonesia. The nation has experienced a number of crises and always been able to rise afterward.

At the same occasion, Thohir also dispatched the first exports of Lampung coffee in 2022 by symbolically locked the key of the coffee container.

Meanwhile, the PMO Kopi Nusantara is a pilot project of the establishment of coffee ecosystem from the upstream to the downstream sectors.

Source: Antara News