KUALA LUMPUR: Halal industry players should avoid oversharing knowledge and strategies with other countries to maintain Malaysia's leadership in halal certification and production, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
In his speech, Ahmad Zahid said coordination between various agencies, departments or non-governmental organisations (NGOs) needs to be intensified to ensure that Malaysia remains a leader, not only in halal certification, but also in the production of halal products, including Islamic banking services and others.
"Our intentions and goals are good, but how can the coordination be done so that our stakeholders are not confused. We must avoid a situation where all parties have the same goal, but act in different ways," he said.
He also emphasised the importance of Malaysia maintaining its position in the halal industry since national certification is widely recognised by Muslim and non-Muslim countries around the world.
In fact, he said halal industry players should take advantage of the exciting market-based opportunities for the global halal economy which is expected to reach US$5 trillion (RM21 trillion) by 2030 from US$3 trillion (RM12.6 trillion) this year.
"The market is big, but how much is our contribution from that amount? Our export of halal products is only RM53.7 billion. Although in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) we contribute 8.1 per cent to the export of halal products, the reality is that it is still very, very small'," he said.
Zahid also said that although Malaysia has been involved in the halal industry for almost 50 years, the country still does not have a strong halal policy.
Thus, he emphasised the need to establish a halal research and innovation centre, even though the Department of Islamic Development Department Malaysia (Jakim) has started efforts in that field.
"As an institution, leaders come and go because the directors of the halal certification department also have to go on compulsory retirement even though there is more work to be done. So we should take advantage of their expertise after they retire."
He added that the research centre which will be established can invite retired experts, in addition to new experts and conduct some innovation on halal products and services.
He also said that starting next year, the month of September will be used as the annual Halal Product Month.-- BERNAMA