News From : DagangHalal.com (12 Aug 2009)
Davao City – An official of the Region 11 office of the Philippine Exporters’ Confederation (PhilExport 11) disclosed that Mindanao could take advantage of the opportunity to be offered through the establishment of the Halal Brand Project of Brunei Darussalam.
Ann T. Pamintuan, president of PhilExport 11 and chair of the Mindanao Trade Expo (MTE) 2009, expressed confidence that Mindanao could provide Brunei with its halal products.
“They are now looking for partners who can provide them with halal products. With that, Mindanao can get so much opportunities since we can be their potential producer and supplier of halal products,” she said, adding that although the Halal Brand of Brunei Darussalam is already in place, it still doesn’t have products which can be marketed worldwide.
In the project’s Web site, it stated that the project “gives opportunity for investment both inside and outside the country whilst strengthening bilateral ties between Brunei Darussalam with its partnering countries through the halal certification and branding services, offering joint-venture opportunity and Foreign Direct Investment.”
Pamintuan said that Mindanao, being the official member of the country in the Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines-East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA), has a competitive advantage since bilateral agreement is already available.
The project also envisions that “through the Brunei Halal Brand, Brunei Darussalam has set sights in becoming one of the major players of the Halal industry globally, both in terms of halal food production and certification, with the sheer aim of catering halal food including other halal products of premium quality for Muslim population worldwide.”
Halal is an Arabic word that means lawful, permitted, or acceptable. The word can refer to food, things (such as cosmetics, personal care products, and food contact materials), manners or actions allowed by God for mankind and enjoined upon by believers of Islam (Muslims). As such, halal has evolved to be a quality standard.
Pamintuan is also positive that as partners of economic development, Brunei and Mindanao will have good working relationship in the said project. “We just need to adopt the right marketing strategies in order to capture a share of the huge global halal market estimated to be at $580 billion to $1.2 trillion,” she said, adding that with Mindanao in partnership with Brunei Darusssalam, the island can penetrate the 1.5 to 1.8 billion Muslim consumers spread in over 100 countries globally.
As this developed, she urged stakeholders to attend the Exporters’ Forum slated from August 13 and 14 at the mini-theater of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) here.
“The Minister of Trade and Industry of Brunei Darussalam is coming over to personally discuss about this latest initiative of their country. With this, participants of the forum will definitely get the chance to appreciate the project more and even snitch the opportunity to do business with the said country,” she said.
By SARAH JANE R. HILOMEN
Source: Manila Bulletin