REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PALEMBANG -- President Joko Widodo has reiterated the government's plan to set up a creative economy board in support of the national creative industry, including film industry.

"In the past one month, we are in the process of setting up a creative economy board. This body will directly be responsible to the President. This is a form of our seriousness (about developing the creative economy)," the President said at a function marking the conferment of Citra Awards at the 2014 Indonesian Film Festival (FFI) here on Saturday night.

He said the government's support for the national film industry was part of efforts to achieve self-reliance in creativity and arts.

"I call on the public to love Indonesian films. Our films are our face to show that we love Indonesia as a whole. May the peoples of Indonesia and other countries love our films," he said.

The government had taken a number of policies to unite assets to develop self-reliant creative economy, encourage creativity and promote awareness of intellectual property rights, he pointed out.

The creative industry in Indonesia is classified into 14 groups of industry including architecture; design; fashion; film, video and photograph; craft; computer and software services; music; art and antiques markets; publishing and printing; advertising; interactive games; research and development; performing arts; television and radio.

The government is determined to make the creative industry a major contributor to the country's gross domestic product (GDP) in the next five years. The creative industry now employs more than 11.79 million workers or about 10.65 percent of Indonesian workforce which reaches 110.80 million workers.

Currently, the creative economy sector ranks seventh out of the 10 economic sectors and contributes to the tune of 6.9 percent of the GDP or Rp573.89 trillion, according to data from the Young Indonesian Entrepreneurs Association.

The government has set a target to develop the creative industry sector by 10 percent this year and make it the third-largest contributor to the GDP.

Chairman of the Young Indonesian Entrepreneurs Association of Jakarta Chapter Rama Datau noted recently that the creative industry shares 10 percent of the total number of businesses in Indonesia as a result of its growth rate that reached one percent in the same period of time.

In 2013, Indonesia had 5.4 million units of creative industry, absorbing 12 million employees and contributing Rp19 trillion or 5.72 percent of Indonesia's foreign exchange.

In the first half of this year, the Indonesian creative sector exports had reached Rp63.1 trillion or increased 7.27 percent over the same period last year.

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