KOTA KINABALU, Aug 28 – Malaysia is in a strong position to become the global halal hub in 2020 with almost 4,500 companies having the halal certification in the country as of March this year.
Sabah’s Assistant Industrial Development Minister Datuk Bolkiah Ismail said the figure was a 35.5 per cent increase over the 3,319 companies during the same period last year.
“To date in 2014, Sabah has 249 companies that are halal certified with 105 being Bumiputera-owned.
“Of this number, 20 are multinationals, 125 small industries and 104 medium sized,” he told added.
Bolkiah said this when officiating the state-level Halal Outreach Programme (HOPE) 2014, here Thursday.
The text of his speech was delivered by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Datuk Hashim Paijan.
He said to date, there were 21 Halal Parks throughout the country with 20 operational, including the POIC Lahad Datu Halal Park in Sabah, as well as halal entrepreneur development programmes.
He urged halal entrepreneurs in Sabah to strengthen their business, enhance quality, improve competitiveness as well as widen the markets for their products and related services.
“The government is confident that the call for companies in Sabah to improve their involvement in the development of the halal industry will have a very strong overall impact on the national economy,” Bolkiah said.
Meanwhile, he expressed the hope that the Halal Outreach Programme will provide a platform for local entrepreneurs to obtain information on the marketing of products and services at the international level through panel dialogues, briefings by related government agencies and the sharing of knowledge, among others.
The two-day programme which attracted about 100 participants is organised by the Halal Industry Development Corporation and the Ministry of International Trade and Industry.
– BERNAMA
