PETALING JAYA, July 5 — The Halal Development Corporation Berhad (HDC) must cooperate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to spearhead the agenda of halal diplomacy in order to bring Malaysia’s halal brand globally, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
This is because many countries and organisations look to Malaysia when building their halal ecosystems.
In view of this, he said HDC should not only focus on tangible halal products or services but also use this as an opportunity to export halal knowledge through Malaysia’s halal diplomacy.
“This fresh concept of halal diplomacy, led by HDC, can set global gold standards for halal that includes facilitating halal services across borders, encouraging technology and research sharing and ensuring a seamless halal verification process.
“In this way, we can build a resilient and sustainable global halal economy. By adopting this concept, we can also maintain Malaysia’s top halal status through the internalisation of our halal ecosystem,” Ahmad Zahid said in his speech during the World Halal Excellence Awards 2022 organised by HDC, earlier tonight.
HDC is an agency under the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry, which is the central coordinator that promotes participation and facilitates the growth of industry players in the development of Malaysia’s halal ecosystem.
The Deputy Prime Minister said the government wants to make Malaysia a global leader in the halal economy as the halal market is set to grow from US$3 trillion (RM13.9 trillion) in 2018 to US$5 trillion (RM23.2 trillion) by 2030.
“Our government recognises this and that is why we have launched initiatives to boost the industry’s capacity and competitiveness,” he said, while adding that in this regard, the government has launched the Halal Industry Master Plan 2030 to drive the country’s economic development.
“We are aiming big with this master plan. We want the industry to expand to US$113 billion by 2030, contributing eight per cent to our Gross Domestic Product by 2025 and creating over 350,000 high-quality jobs,” Ahmad Zahid said.
On the World Halal Excellence Awards (WHEA) 2022, he said the event reflects the pace of ongoing economic growth supported by the contributions, achievements and commendable efforts of halal industry players in inducing greater product and market complexity while integrating Malaysian products globally and tapping on the great potential of the trillion-dollar industry.
Also present were Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz, and HDC chairman Khairul Azwan Harun.
For WHEA 2022, a total of 20 organisations and an individual were awarded for their outstanding contributions to the growth of the halal industry.
Among the categories was the Halal Leadership Excellence Award awarded to Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group chairman and president Dr Muhammad Sulaiman Al Jasse, while the Selangor government was conferred with the Halal State Performance Excellence Award.
Other winners were F&N Holdings Bhd and Agym Nutrition Sdn Bhd, both for the Halal Food and Beverages Excellence Award category, while Gerbang Alaf Restaurants Sdn Bhd (McDonald’s) was presented with the Halal Prominent Brand Excellence Award (International).
The annual award was also to recognise and honour exceptional achievements by halal industry players in making Malaysia the global top performer in the USD3 trillion market.
More than 200 recognitions have been awarded to individuals, organisations and companies by HDC since the introduction of the award in 2009.
— Bernama
