KEIN deputy chairman Arif Budimanta said the roadmap would highlight five main things, namely job creation, poverty reduction, narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor, inflation control and maintaining high economic growth.

“This is why the roadmap is very important as an aggregation, the result of the entire existing roadmaps in all ministries. It is like a second opinion,” Arif said in a press conference after the committee’s first meeting with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo at the State Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) further said that the roadmap was scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2016. It would regulate the future of all levels of Indonesian industry.

Arif said the re-industrialisation plan was aimed at minimising imports, including the import of staple foods that could trigger inflation. In the agricultural sector, industrialisation would be used as a tool of price control and as a substitution for the import of goods. “So, we hope that the volatility of our exchange rate can be decreased,” he said.

KEIN secretary Putri K.Wardhani said the committee’s work would not overlap with the work of the Cabinet. “Although each ministry has its own roadmap, the President has urged us to give input to support the growth of national industry,” she said.

Putri said the committee would create a crisis centre where the businesspeople could receive advice. Meanwhile, industry players could discuss the obstacles faced by national industry.

Pramono said the main function of the committee, established last month, was to give the government creative advice on infrastructure development and deregulation.

Chaired by businessman and National Mandate Party (PAN) advisory council chairman Soetrisno Bachir, KEIN comprises 20 businesspeople and economists assigned to provide feedback to Jokowi on matters relating to the economy.

The committee includes Arif, a former member of Jokowi’s economic team during his 2014 presidential campaign, Hariyadi Sukamdani, chairman of the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo), businessman Sudhamek AWS and economist Hendri Saparini. The committee replaces the National Economic Committee.