The Halal Development Corporation Berhad (HDC) together with the Malaysia External Trade and Development Corporation (MATRADE), both agencies under the Malaysian Ministry of Trade and Industries (MITI), will be spearheading a Malaysian multi-agency Halal mission, the Halal Cluster Week, under the umbrella of Malaysia Pavilion at the upcoming World Expo 2020 Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) from 14 – 20 November 2021.
During the Halal Cluster Week, HDC and MATRADE will be organizing Halal Malaysia Showcase featuring the Export Acceleration Mission on Digital Halal Ecosystem (EAM) to highlight Malaysia’s capability in the halal industry and, at the same time, to position the country as an international hub for halal products and services.
“The halal industry is certainly one of Malaysia’s key strengths and being one of the pioneers within the global halal industry, we will certainly highlight Malaysia’s halal offerings to help us achieve the desired outcome,” said Hairol Ariffein Sahari, Chief Executive Officer of HDC.
“As the national trade promotion agency of Malaysia, participation in World Expo 2020 will reinforce MATRADE’s commitment to champion the internationalisation agenda of Malaysia’s Halal products and services. MATRADE will continue its collaboration efforts with various ministries and agencies towards such agenda under the umbrella of Export Coordination Committee or JK-X in short,” said Mohd Mustafa Abdul Aziz, Chief Executive Officer of MATRADE.
In preparation for the mission and to achieve the optimum outcome, business meetings, pitching sessions, seminars and visits to buying houses will be organised by MATRADE, who is the strategic partner to MGTC which will also be assisting in the facilitation of business meetings for 26 weeks (6 months) of the World Expo 2020.
With the theme “Energising Sustainability”, the Malaysia Pavilion in Dubai will be the main meeting point for Malaysian companies for the weekly business-focused thematic programs, which will be led by the 22 ministries, 38 agencies, and five state governments, throughout 26 weeks of the Expo.
Malaysia’s overall participation in World Expo 2020 will be led by The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) with Malaysian Green Technology and Climate Change Centre (MGTC) as the implementing agency. Malaysia will be among 192 countries participating in Expo 2020 Dubai, which is slated to be held from 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022.
“We aim to leverage on this world event and further solidify our leadership position in halal industry. With the global economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19, as well as the travel restriction due to the border closures, HDC will certainly use this immense trust and opportunity to promote our local industries and bring the best of our Malaysian products to the global arena and help boost Malaysia’s overall trade and economy,” added Hairol.
Bearing the theme “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future”, this mega event will be the first World Expo to be held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region. Despite the hurdle which leads to the postponement of the event in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, UAE is officially opening their doors to the world as a platform for the global community to interact and deliberate on new ideas.
(Despite being postponed, organisers have decided to maintain World Expo 2020 as the event title for marketing and branding purposes.)
