PETALING JAYA: The Halal Development Corporation Bhd (HDC) plans to promote up to 700 Malaysian professionals in the international market to meet the strong demand for talents with experience in the halal sector.

CEO Hairol Ariffein Sahari said the talents will be needed for the companies’ halal operations as well as the exchange of technologies with four countries: Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China.

“These countries are non-Muslim majority and their knowledge of halal is limited.

“Hence, in order to meet the requirements in halal-certified products and services, they might need expert help from Malaysia,” he told reporters here today.

Hairol said each year there are 50,000 local graduates in halal-related courses, and around 10,000 certified halal knowledge personnel are working in the halal industry.

On another note, he said HDC remains optimistic of achieving its RM50 bil export target this year compared to RM41 bil last year.

He added that the move to introduce Malaysian professionals to the overseas market might boost exports by about RM2 bil as well as attract up to RM2 bil in foreign direct investment.

“In order to enter the halal industry, the companies will need to import the raw materials or ingredients due to the lack of halal materials in their country.

Meanwhile, Hairol said HDC will facilitate more than 5,000 companies are in halal compliance this year.

”Currently, there are 8,500 halal-certified companies and we want to facilitate more companies to create additional opportunities for Malaysia’s halal ecosystem community,” he added. – Jan 22, 2020, Bernama