Boosting trade is the goal of the Giftionery and Culture Creative Exhibit, which began on Thursday, attended by Eswatini, Indonesia and some Latin American countries.
The exhibit, themed “Style and Creation in Life,” was organized by the Taipei World Trade Center.
The physical event is at the Taipei World Trade Center’s Hall 1 until today, and the online part runs until May 21.
The exhibition brings together 300 domestic and foreign companies that make gift items, creative office supplies and handicrafts to create more business opportunities amid the COVID-19 pandemic, organizers said.
Indonesian Economic and Trade Office to Taipei Head Budi Santoso said that although Indonesia’s rich raw materials for craft products give the country an advantage in the global market, the era of raw material exports has ended.
Indonesian craftspeople realize that they have to hone their skills to process those raw materials into something with added value, Santoso said.
“Supported by abundant natural raw materials, and a wide variety of distinctive traditional patterns and designs, we are trying to introduce those Indonesian craft products that have high quality and are able to compete in international markets, especially Taiwan,” he said.
Items displayed at the Indonesia Pavilion include wooden radios, wooden watches, jewelry, pearls, household products made from rattan, bamboo and wood, hanging lamps made from seashells, and woven fabrics.
Bureau of Foreign Trade data show that Indonesia is the third-biggest exporter of craft products to Taiwan, behind China and Italy.
Indonesia last year exported US$191 million of craft products to Taiwan, an increase of 3 percent from a year earlier, the data showed.
At the Eswatini pavilion, one of the products is a handwoven basket made from thick grass and fiber from the southern African country.
The basket, which was made using traditional weaving techniques, was produced by Gone Rural, a brand that aims to empower women in rural Eswatini by enabling them to earn a fair and sustainable income.
Other producers represented at the pavilion include Tintsaba, which was founded in 1985 with only 12 local female workers, but has trained and worked with more than 1,400 women in rural Eswatini, the company’s Web site says.
The groups and trading entities that help rural women and promote their empowerment have touched many in the community, Embassy of the Kingdom of Eswatini First Secretary Zanele Bhembe said.
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