October 05, 2018: The Chairman of the Standing Committee on Halal Products and Services & organizer of the Halal Assembly, Mr. Asad Sajjad has urged the government to activate the already established “Pakistan Halal Development Authority” at national level for regulating and facilitating Halal certification and oversee the promotion of Pakistani Halal products in international market.

Pakistan Halal Assembly –2018, was held at the Federation House to discuss the export potentials and opportunities for Pakistan in Global Halal Market.

Addressing the Conference, he said that despite being a Muslim country Pakistan’s share in the global Halal trade was merely 0.25 per cent which could be increased with the upgradation of Halal certification and provision of Halal storage facilities.

He pointed out that there was a dire need to create awareness about the Halal product in our country as this is not confined to food and beverages only it included pharmaceutical, cosmetics and a lot more and people in our country were not aware of the fact. So educating them about the importance of Halal is necessary to promote Halal products in our country and of course globally.

He reiterated that activation of PHDA was the need of the hour for keeping check on exports and imports of Halal products. Moreover, organizations like PSQA, PCSIR, and TDAP should also extend their support in the promotion and development of Halal industry.

He regretted that the no Muslim country was among the top ten exporters of Halal food and Pakistan being a Muslim country failed to get its due share in the global Halal market consisting of more than US$ 3 trillion.

He said that Halal foods gained a larger presence in major European and American fast food chains in recent years and supermarkets and food companies were jumping on the bandwagon to gain a competitive advantage. This is just because now they are now aware of the fact that Halal food is healthier, he added.

Speaking to the participants of the seminar S.M. Munir, former President of FPCCI and Ex CE of TDAP said that such events should be organized more frequently to create much needed awareness among the local manufacturers in particular and the public in general.

The conference had three sessions. The inaugural session which was followed by a session on Government’s role to promote Pakistan’s Halal products exports, addressed by representatives of government organizations like PSQA, PCSIR PNAC. The absence of TDAP (trade development authority) was felt by everyone from this important event that was focused in export promotion of Pakistani Halal products.

The third session discussed trade barriers in Halal industrial development and export promotion addressed by the Executive Director K&N, Director Al-Shaheer Foods and a host of others.

The seminar was largely attended by members of the Diplomatic Corps including Indonesia, Russia, Japan, Malaysia, Iran and Thailand, business community, representatives of various government organization and academia.

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