DUBAI, 10th November, 2019 (WAM) — The International Halal Accreditation Forum, IHAF, the world’s pioneering halal accreditation platform, welcomed new partners from six countries, including Japan, Costa Rica, Bulgaria, Belarus, Sudan and the Republic of Korea, raising its membership to include 37 countries.
At the sixth Board of Directors and fourth General Assembly meeting of the IHAF, held recently in Frankfurt, Germany, the IHAF approved the membership of the Public Interest Incorporated Foundation Japan Accreditation Board, the Costa Rican Accreditation Body, Executive Agency – Bulgarian Accreditation Service, Belarusian State Centre for Accreditation, the Sudanese Accreditation Council and the Korea Accreditation Board.
Those at the meeting also discussed the IHAF Expansion Report, the IHAF Strategy for 2020 to 2024, achievement reports from its internal committees, as well as updates and progress on the peer evaluation activities and plans for development programmes in the halal field.
Dr. Rehab Faraj Al Ameri was approved as the new IHAF Secretary-General for 2019 to 2022. “The IHAF is committed to boosting the international halal trade by working with various accreditation bodies all over the globe, and as the new Secretary-General, my focus is ensuring its sustained growth. The strong interest of other countries to join the forum shows that it has set the bar high, in terms of adopting unified halal accreditation standards and procedures,” Dr. Al Ameri said.
During the assembly, the IHAF also announced the new members of the BOD and Committees Chairs for 2019 to 2022.
The BOD affiliates for the term 2019 to 2022 include the Emirates National Accreditation System, the Saudi Accreditation Centre, the GCC Accreditation Centre, the Pakistan National Accreditation Council, the Egyptian Accreditation Council, L’Ente Italiano di Accreditamento of Italy, the National Standardisation Council of Thailand and Agricultural Commodity and Food Standards, the National Accreditation Authority of Hungary and the Association for Laboratory Accreditation.
For the Committee Chairs, the General Assembly introduced Brahim Houla of GAC-GCC as the new Multilateral Recognition Arrangement Committee Chair, Saud Alaskar of SAC-KSA as the new Technical Advisory Committee Chair, and Mohamed Abdelmotagaly Aly of Emirates International Accreditation Centre as the new Marketing and Media Committee Chair.
The IHAF has also set the next assembly for the BOD and committees to meet alongside the Global Halal Platform on 18th February, 2020, in conjunction with Gulf Food week in Dubai.
