Jakarta, June 1 -- The Indonesian government has announced that village cooperatives can utilize unused or abandoned government buildings for their operations.

In a press release issued by the Ministry of Cooperatives on Saturday, Deputy Minister Ferry Juliantono said that buildings formerly used by ministries can also be repurposed for cooperative use.

"Regional governments should immediately inventory all existing government assets and submit a report and proposal to the central government," he said.

He emphasized that cooperatives are not required to construct new buildings right away, as the priority is to make use of existing government-owned facilities.

On the business model, Juliantono explained that each cooperative will be gr...