News From : DagangHalal.com (29 Jul 2009)
Sultanate first to set standards, guidelines for healthcare and pharmaceutical products
Bandar Seri Begawan – Brunei Darussalam has developed a very good Halal standard because it is rigorous and pays a lot of attention to details. “It is clear to anyone in the Halal sector that Brunei takes Halal very seriously,” Abdalhamid David Evans, Senior Analyst for Imarat Consultants and the consultant for the International Halal Market Conference 2009 (IHMC), said.
He spoke at yesterday’s press briefing on the upcoming 4th IHMC, which will be held on August 1 and 2 at the International Convention Centre.
During the briefing at the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources, he said, Brunei has taken the strictest approach and if a product is Halal compliant in Brunei, it should be compliant anywhere else, because it should have exceeded the minimum standards.
“This puts Brunei in a very strong position,” he said and added that Brunei, though small, can be a very important role model for countries around the world.
Brunei’s standard for Halal food is comprehensive and is very good. It is certainly if not the best in the world then among the best in the world, Abdalhamid David Evans added.
During the briefing he told the press that Brunei is developing a Halal science centre like some other countries. “This is very important because Halal science is also going to be a growth sector in its own,” he added.
The media was told that over the last five years, focus on the Halal sector in general all over the world has increased enormously.
Countries, whether Muslim or non-Muslim, have paid greater attention to the Halal market and to developing their own Halal sectors in their respective countries.
In that sense, Abdalhamid said Halal has become a global market force as it is emerging as a global market force. “For a country like Brunei, because of its status as a Malay Islamic Monarchy, the role of Halal is extremely important and we understand here in Brunei there are three main focuses for the development of Halal,” he said.
First, he pointed out that it is a collective responsibility to provide Halal food for the Muslims. Brunei takes it as a first priority, a religious duty. Secondly, Halal has also been used in diversifying the national economy away from its dependence on oil and gas. “So halal has been earmarked as one of the industries that can be developed in order to diversify the economy,” he said.
The third element he added was as a means of developing the SMEs, Halal has also been chosen in a way to develop this.Abdalhamid said this year, there are going to be some good announcements and developments with those projects in the next week.
He said the way they have approached the conference is two-fold. The first is to ensure that the conference itself is a world-class event in terms of choosing themes and speakers. “We have tried to ensure that the topics that they cover and theme each year are something that are relevant not just in Brunei and in the Southeast Asia region but to Halal as a globally developing industry,” he said.
Second is to make the conference a way of showcasing Brunei’s achievements in the Halal industry. “This year will be particularly relevant in terms of unveiling some of the new developments that are happening with the new Brunei Halal brand”, which brought to the theme “Halal – an engine of growth and opportunity”.
He said, “Halal can be something which can drive forward an economy and we know that this approach to Halal is something being considered by many countries and we feel that that this theme is particularly relevant in Brunei because of the role that Halal plays in the domestic economy.”
World-class speakers have been linedup to address the conference and the topics are not just about Halal as a religious element or obligation. He said the conference will look into the business of Halal and how to make it a syariah compliant business at a global level.
The element of being compliant to the laws of Islam becomes the defining parameters for business. “So with the development of Islamic finance over the last two decades and now in the recent years with the development of the Halal sector, we have really seen the Islamic laws, guidelines and parameters playing an important role in global industry and commerce,” he said.
“This is the area where the Muslim world is looking for leadership and this is a role where Brunei, though small, can be a very important role model for countries around the world, be they Muslim or Non-Muslim.”
During the conference, one of the issues that will be discussed with the SMEs is that while food is the obvious arena for the Halal market, it is not the only one.
Abdalhamid said, Brunei is also playing a leading role with the development of standards and guidelines for healthcare products and pharmaceutical products and medicines, which make them the first as it hasn’t been done by any other country.
“Brunei is very much leading in this area of standards development and there are many standard agencies from various parts of the world who will be attending (the conference) and I think it would be interesting to look at how collaboration can be done in this field,” he added.
He said as far as he knows, Brunei is the first country that has completed standards for pharmaceutical care and healthcare products. “And I think the important thing here is to demonstrate the way that syariah compliance translates into industry compliance standards.”
The development of pharmaceuticals and standards in Brunei opens the possibility for companies that are interested in that sector, Abdalhamid said, as Brunei becomes potentially an interesting place to invest and set up headquarters for projects because Brunei has the guidelines and standards.
He also spoke about how there is a huge demand for Halal food around the world and there is not enough supply to meet the demand. “There is a huge gap between supply and demand,” he said.
People are looking for new market sectors and Halal is starting to come into the radar.
— Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin