Jakarta, The Indonesia Post – Vice President Ma’ruf Amin hopes to optimize Halal20 activities to support the success of the G20 event which has just closed.
“The Halal20 event, as part of the series of the Indonesian Presidency in the G20, must be able to produce concrete achievements. First, Halal20 must be optimized to support the success of the Indonesian G20 Presidency,” Vice President Ma’ruf Amin said in Semarang, Central Java on Thursday.
The Vice President conveyed this when opening the G20 Global Halal Forum (Halal 20) event organized by the Halal Assurance Product Organizing Agency (BPJPH), Ministry of Religion.
“I encourage BPJPH and representatives of foreign halal institutions to share knowledge, experience and the latest innovations in implementing halal product guarantees,” said the Vice President.
Various best practices, according to the Vice President, can be a reference for improving and improving the implementation of halal product guarantees, including how to build a better international cooperation scheme for halal product guarantees in the future.
“Second, cooperation in mutual recognition and mutual acceptance of halal certificates needs to be followed up and added to the scope,” added the Vice President.
According to the Vice President, trade barriers between countries are increasingly blurred with the widespread use of digital technology, such as “e-commerce”. As a result, the trading space for halal products is increasingly open, along with the potential to strengthen cooperation in the global halal market.
“In particular, I appreciate the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between BPJPH and a number of foreign halal institutions. This is a very good first step towards guaranteeing halal products in a holistic and sustainable manner. I hope that similar cooperation will continue to be established in many countries,” explained the Vice President.
Third, the Vice President hopes that cooperation in developing halal product guarantees between countries will continue to be expanded because halal product guarantees are not only a matter of certification, but also a matter of technology, human resources (HR) and infrastructure.
“To ensure the realization of superior, innovative and competitive halal products, cooperation in technology development must be strengthened, both between institutions and between countries,” said the Vice President.
Currently, Indonesia through the National Sharia Economic and Finance Committee (KNEKS) and the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) has developed the BRIN Food Research Facility as an Indonesian Halal Research Reference Laboratory.
“Furthermore, international cooperation also needs to be oriented towards developing human resources, mainly through education and training for business actors, halal auditors for halal supervisors, supervisors for Halal Product Assurance (JPH), and administrators for halal inspection agencies,” added the Vice President.
Likewise increasing the knowledge and capacity of Islamic scholars, involving academics and other stakeholders related to human resource development in the field of halal product assurance, including in terms of exchanging information related to halal product guarantees and developing halal standards that are more complete, up-to-date and reliable.
“Hopefully this forum will become a medium for exchanging knowledge, a means of productive discussion, and produce various agreements, cooperation and concrete programs, both in implementing halal guarantees between G20 member countries and other countries,” said the Vice President.
Also present at the event were Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, Head of BPJPH Aqil Irham, Deputy Governor of Central Java Taj Yasin Maimoen and other relevant officials.
The Halal 20 Forum (H20) is part of the G20 Presidency and takes place on 17-19 November 2022. H20 has the theme “Global Halal Partnership For A Robust Sustainable Future” which was attended by 279 participants from 44 countries, namely ambassadors from friendly countries. , representatives of 104 Overseas Halal Institutions (LHLN), practitioners, scientists, and observers of halal product assurance.
During the event, a memorandum of understanding was also signed between BPJPH and a Turkish halal agency, namely Helal Accreditasyon Kurumu (HAK Turkiye) and the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA or halal agency) of Saudi Arabia. BPJPH has also signed an MoU with UIN Ar Raniry Aceh, Padang State University, Queen of Mall and the Association of Indonesian Entrepreneurs (IWAPI). (mhn/bbs)
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