KUALA LUMPUR, March 10 (Bernama) — The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) will host a trade fair and six halal industry conferences under one roof this year, offering the largest ever and well-integrated expositions to unite the global halal marketplace.
Known as the World Halal Summit (WHS), the event will be held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre on March 30 to April 4.
The six-day summit is a joint effort between Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade), Halal Industry Development Corporation (HDC) and Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim).
The International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) and Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) will come on board as WHS strategic partners.
MITI Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed when announcing the summit said the confluence of the exposition and forums was done with a single aim, that is to harness the full potential of ‘halal’ within a globalised environment.
“The largest, world-renowned integrated halal trade fair — Malaysia International Halal Showcase (Mihas), will be the highlight of WHS.
“WHS’s vision is to be a unified global halal marketplace,” Mustapa said at a media briefing on the new summit here today.
The minister said the coalescence of a halal trade show and related halal forums under one entity aimed to integrate all coordinated efforts in the development and promotion of the global halal industry.
“We intend to establish the halal industry as how we established the Islamic banking industry.
“The summit will include six subject-focused forums featuring intensive and empowering dialogues with 80 influential speakers to map out future global halal developments,” he said.
The six forums are the 6th Jakim International Halal Certification Bodies Convention, 8th World Halal Conference, Certifiers Forum, Academics Forum, Business Forum and Scholars Forum.
Mustapa said the summit expected see the participation of more than 1,000 representatives from 50 countries, gathering key halal players not only from the industry but also other related groups including certifiers, scholars and academics.
Reflecting Malaysia’s mission in identifying the untapped potential of the halal industry, the inaugural WHS 2015 is themed “Energising the Halal Ecosystem” to explore common terms uniting halal certification bodies and the proper market positioning of halal products and services.
“WHS 2015 allocates 640 booths. As of today, a total of 590 companies will participate in the summit, comprising 55 per cent local exhibitors and 45 per cent international businesses from 20 countries,” said Mustapa, adding the summit will be officiated by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
