Jakarta – Indonesia has a good opportunities and enormous potential to be able to supply and export various consumption commodities to Muslim-majority countries. Especially countries in the Middle East region that gather in the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) or better known as the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC). Thus stated Arlinda, Chief Advisor and Expert Staff of the Minister of Trade in International Relations.
“Indonesia’s has potential exports to OIC member countries such as food products, medicines and cosmetics. Including fashion products,” he said while giving a speech while opening the “Workshop on Discovering Opportunities to Access Halal Market of the OIC Member Countries “which was held on September 2, 2019 in Jakarta.
Halal as Entry Point
Thus, he added, the halal provisions with the halal certification process were crucial, so that they could be accepted in Muslim-majority countries. Obviously halal is a prerequisite, as an “Entry Point” to be able to enter and be accepted by these OIC countries.
By utilizing its membership in the OIC, the Ministry of Trade will continue to encourage exports of halal products to OIC member countries. It also strives to improve market access to other member countries such as Turkey, Nigeria, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates to the best of its ability.
Furthermore, Arlinda revealed, there are three things that become international trade issues related to halal products. First, there are differences in regulations, standards and halal certification systems in various countries. Also included in OIC member countries. The second issue is the difference in certification or halal mark between countries involved in the trade of halal products. Finally, there are differences of schools of thought adopted by each country. So there are three differences in halal interpretation of a product.
Therefore, the Ministry of Trade in collaboration with the Indonesian Halal Training and Education Center (IHATEC), which has experience in the field of halal training, organized the Discovering Opportunities to Access the Halal Market of the OIC Member Countries.
In this workshop, speakers from various OIC member countries were directly involved in handling halal products, both as regulators and business doers. The speakers included Head of the Sukoso Halal Product Assurance Agency, Deputy President of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey Teyfik Demir, Director of the Halal Division of the Malaysian Islamic Development Department Dato Sirajuddin Bin Suhaimee, and Corporate Communication Manager of PT Paragon Technology and Innovation, product manufacturer Halal cosmetics Wadah, Suci Hendrina.
“This workshop is expected to help increase the understanding of stakeholders regarding the concepts and regulations of halal products that are applied in OIC countries. So that it can be used to increase exports of Indonesian halal products to OIC member countries” said Arlinda. (Usm).
