A seminar’s thematic session: Supporting Halal industry
Post date: Monday, Dec 18, 2023 | 6:19 - View count: 484
On December 14, 2023, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a thematic discussion was held between heads of Vietnamese representative agencies abroad and Vietnamese business associations. The seminar had three thematic sessions on Opportunities and challenges for Vietnamese businesses from new progresses in cooperation and integration; Promote high-tech investment cooperation, innovation and energy transition and Supporting Halal industry.
Dr. Ha Minh Hiep, Acting Director General of the Directorate for Standards, Metrology and Quality (STAMEQ), participated in the session related to the supporting the Halal industry.
Implementing assigned tasks by the Prime Minister in the Project “Strengthening international cooperation to build and develop Vietnam’s Halal industry until 2030”, the Ministry of Science and Technology has assigned the STAMEQ to develop Vietnam standards for halal and establish the National Halal Certification Center. Currently, Viet Nam has signed cooperation agreements on standards, metrology and quality including the Halal field, with Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and is expected to sign with Malaysia and Saudi Arabia and Turkey in the near future. These agreements will help to strengthen the capacity of Halal standardization, the development of the future National Halal Certification Center and facilitate the mutual recognition agreements with national Halal certification agencies in the foreign markets.
On the basis of five existing TCVNs, the Ministry of Science and Technology develops a plan to complete Viet Nam’s national set of standards on Halal with 30 TCVNs including standards on terms and definitions, Halal standards in the fields of cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, food, footwear, carpets, packaging, tourism and services, conformity assessment, Halal supply chain. This set of national standards is an important technical tool, helping Vietnamese businesses understand and apply properly to their production and business to achieve Halal product certification.
Responding to Vietnamese businesses’ concerns about how to reduce costs, Dr. Hiep also shared that Vietnamese businesses need to clearly understand the requirements of standards related to Halal certified products. Especially for each export market, these standards are different. Therefore, if we do not understand these standards, the investment from the initial stage to the final product may not be appropriate, leading to incorrect and scattered investments, and this is an extremely large cost for businesses when initially participating in the Halal economic industry. STAMEQ is going to establish the National Halal Certification Center and going to do a thorough research on the systems of countries for Halal, certification procedure issues, supply chain management, etc …
Dr. Ha Minh Hiep expressed his wish to continue to receive support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ambassadors to continue to support Vietnamese agencies in continuing to access Muslim and non-Muslim markets and considering to join as an observing member of the Islamic Forum for Halal Accreditation Bodies (IFHAB) of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
