Malaysia Has Great Potential To Expand Halal Industry - MGCC

KUALA TERENGGANU (Terengganu, Malaysia), June 3 (Bernama) – The Malaysia Global Chamber of Commerce (MGCC) foresees Malaysia’s great potential in developing the halal industry as the halal logo and certificate issued by the Islamic Development Department (Jakim) is very valuable in the global arena, the Malaysia Global Chamber of Commerce (MGCC) said. Its President, Alex Ong said for example, in Jakarta, many Malaysian entrepreneurs were capitalising on the network provided by the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) and the Malaysian Embassy to expand the halal market. "The entrepreneurs are not only reaping good profits from their sales, but most important, they managed to appoint business partners to expand their business in the Indonesian market," he said in a statement to Bernama here Friday. Ong commended the five-prong agenda announced by Deputy Prime Minister Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to boost the country's halal ecosystem for the 2018-2020 period. He said the setting up the International Halal Authority Board could harmonise all the world's halal authorities in the area of halal certification, while the formation of the Halal International Research Academy (HIRA) would be the first of its kind in the world. Hence, he hoped Malaysian entrepreneurs should get closer to government agencies for advice on the halal industry. "I welcome the setting up of the Halal Innovation and Technology Centre to further increase the levels of creativity and innovation in the halal industry. “When I was abroad, the people I met mentioned about the halal certificate issued by Jakim. This made me very proud. They really know Malaysia’s halal forays and acknowledge those who have the halal certificate," he said. Ong hoped the halal certificate would be used wisely by its holders as he feared irresponsible entrepreneurs might rent it to unscrupulous businessmen. -- BERNAMA