Former high profile Trade Minister, Dr. Mari Elka Pangestu has been chosen by President Soesilo Yudhoyono to lead the newly restructured Ministry for Tourism and Creative Economy.

Minister Mari Pangestu replaces former Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik, who has been reassigned to head the Ministry for Energy and Mining in the latest Cabinet Reshuffle announced by the President on Tuesday evening, 18 October. 

Earlier appointed Deputy Minister is Sapta Nirwandar, former Director General for Tourism Marketing in the Ministry for Culture and Tourism.  

Meanwhile, the duties covering “Culture” have been transferred back to the Ministry of National Education, which has now been renamed to the Ministry for Education and Culture.

11 new and re-assigned Ministers and 13 Deputy Ministers were installed at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday morning, 19 October, following which, in the afternoon, Minister Mari Pangestu officially took over the duties of the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy from Minister Jero Wacik.

In explaining the reshuffle the President said that Deputy Ministers are civil servants and are not Cabinet Ministers, however, are placed in Ministries to strengthen and accelerate the implementation of work required. The number of ministers in the new Cabinet has not increased and is maintained at 34.

In moving the function to develop the Creative Economy from the Ministry of Trade to the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, President Yudhoyono considered that there are significant correlations between the two.”There are close connections between tourism and the creative economy and industries in many countries, including In Indonesia. We wanted tourism to merge with creative economy so that when these are well managed, they can significantly add to our foreign exchange earnings, thus improving the economy” said the President as reported by kompas.com.

Newly appointed Minister Mari Elka Pangestu stated that establishing a new, special and specific creative economy organization will be one of her main targets in the coming 100 days. The establishment of the organization has the purpose to clearly define the creative economy division within the ministry. “There is a big chance that there will be a directorate general for Creative Economy” stated Mari, after the inauguration ceremony held at the Istana Negara or State Palace, Wednesday 19th October 2011, as reported tempointeraktif.com.

Indonesia’s Creative Economy comprises 14 broad areas, these are: advertising, architecture, art and antique marts, handicrafts, designing, fashion, film, videos and photography, interactive games, music, artistic performances, publishing and printing, computer services and software, radio and television, and research and development. 

Under the leadership of Minister Mari Pangestu, Indonesia’s Tourism and the Creative Economy and industries are expected to be boosted.

Source: kompas.com , tempointeraktif.com.

Foto Courtesy: berita terbaru.com