HDC opens Halal food channel to France

PARIS: Halal Industry Development Corporation (HDC) is set to step up
its presence in Europe following a strategic partnership with French
Glon Groupe, which will spur bilateral trade of halal products in a
Halal corridor between France and Malaysia.

HDC, which is wholly
owned by the government, signed a memorandum of understanding with
Benefiq Pte Ltd, a newly formed company that will lead Glon’s agri food
business thrust in Asia, in Paris yesterday.

The MoU will
establish a strategic partnership to facilitate bilateral opportunities
between Malaysia and France in the areas of trade, supply chain
management and research and development.

The Singapore-based
Benefiq is a leading French vertical agriculture integrator — a
proprietary service standard and process that provides quality
assurance throughout the entire agricultural supply chain from the
development and creation of the product and its distribution, to the
final end-user.

The signing ceremony was witnessed by Prime
Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is on a four-day official visit to
France. Signing on behalf of HDC was its CEO Datuk Seri Jamil Bidin
while Benefiq was represented by its chairman Benoit Glon.

Under
the MoU, HDC will collaborate with Benefiq to provide Malaysian
companies the opportunities to further develop their skills in R&D
and modern agriculture TECHNOLOGY [
].
The MoU will set up the world’s first working platform between Malaysia
and Bretagne, France to expand bilateral trade of halal products
between the two countries.

The Halal Corridor project is being
developed as a catalyst for agri food businesses from France to
penetrate the global halal markets under Malaysia’s globally recognised
halal accreditation and for Malaysian agri businesses to enter the
European Union (EU) market via the Bretagne’s EU-recognition.

This
will involve establishing a HDC-Benefiq halal programme, which will
streamline all halal-only products that are bilaterally traded in the
project.

Jalil said: “Today’s MoU with Glon Groupe’s Asian
representative Benefiq is indeed a significant milestone for HDC and
the halal industry in echoing the prime minister’s call to make
Malaysia an international hub for halal products and services.

“HDC
will continue to strive to identify strategic partners like Benefiq, to
help accelerate the growth of the halal industry. By collaborating with
Benefiq, HDC aims to provide a platform for companies in Malaysia with
an opportunity to penetrate the halal market in Europe via Britanny, as
the gateway.

“Importantly, it will allow French companies to use Malaysia as a base to penetrate the Asean market.”

Given
that the concept of halal is universal, Jamil said it promotes
cleanliness, safety and quality that are hallmarks of many globally
recognised food standards.

He added: “Malaysia will assume a
significant role in the halal marketplace as HDC believes the halal
market will offer new sources of growth, wealth and additional income
for the nation.”

A statement released in conjunction with the
signing ceremony, said the Glon Groupe, a leading European agri food
company with an annual turnover of €1.65 billion (RM8.3 billion) and 60
years of experience in the food processing industry, would bring its
time-tested philosophy of creating a successful agricultural eco-system
to benefit all involved in the “halal agricultural value food chain”.

It
said the emphasis would be to ensure that sovereign security for food
supply chain management is available to Malaysians and the overall
halal market. Benefiq’s primary focus is to position Malaysia as a
strategic hub and centre of excellence for the halal market in Asia and
the rest of the world.

With the MoU, the halal industry will
have access to breakthrough technology that leads in traceability and
sustainability from “farm to fork”.