Melaka Offers To Be 'Middleman' For Japan In Halal Certification

By Mohd Nasir Yusoff KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 2 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's southern state of Melaka has offered to be 'middleman' for Japan in securing halal certification for its black vinegar to enable the product to be marketed in East Asian and other Islamic countries. Chief Minister Mohd Ali Rustam said the vinegar, with the brand name 'kurozu’, was popular in Japan as a health drink and would therefore, benefit Muslim consumers. The product is made from rice and yeast. "So, a halal certificate from the Malaysian Islamic Religious Department (Jakim) is necessary to lure Muslim consumers worldwide," he said in a statement to Bernama from Japan on Wednesday. Mohd Ali, who is on a four-day working visit to Japan, suggested the idea during a dinner with the Kagoshima-Malaysia Friendship Association (KMFA), organised by the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (Mida) in Osaka on Tuesday night. He led a delegation from Melaka to visit the vinegar factory at Sakamoto Brewing in Kagoshima. Also present at the function were Industrial Trade, Entrepreneur Development and State Cooperative Committee chairman Abdul Ghafaar Atan, Invest Melaka general manager Ramli Ali and Osaka Mida director Zabidi Mahbar. KMFA was represented, among others, by its executive director, Yoshio Matsuzawa, and Kagoshima International Exchange Centre director Prof Mishima Moritake. During the meeting, the chief minister also invited entrepreneurs from Kagoshima to invest in Melaka in its small-and-medium industries (SMIs) and participate in the state's tourism and fisheries development. Meanwhile, Moritake said they would send a delegation to Melaka to survey trade and investment opportunities. He hoped the existing good relations between them would augur well for joint economic, education and investment initiatives. The Melaka delegation left for Nagoya to visit the Honda company in Suzuka before returning home on Thursday. -- BERNAMA