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Brunei To Help Maldives Establish Halal Science Lab

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Maldives-meeting-with-brunei-sultanMinister of Foreign Affairs of Maldives, Abdulla Shahid Minister on Saturday requested Brunei to help establish a halal science laboratory in the Maldives.

The minister requested a meeting with his Bruneian counterpart, Dato Seri Setia Haji Erywan bin Pehin Datu Pekerma Jaya Haji Mohd Yusof, during his ongoing official visit to the country.

During the meeting held at the Bruneian foreign ministry, the two diplomats discussed bilateral relations between the two nations, including instituting a ministry-to-ministry level cooperation agreement to reinvigorate cultural and trade ties.

Minister Shahid further explored possibilities for more scholarships to Maldivian students and thanked the government of Brunei for the existing educational opportunities extended to students from the Maldives.  He highlighted that supporting and educating people with special needs is an important priority of the Maldivian administration, as well as the development of the country’s social sector.

The foreign minister also had a meeting with the Sultan of Brunei, Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, during which he thanked the Bruneian leader for the full scholarships on human resource development extended by Brunei to Maldivian students.

Highlighting the shared membership of both nations in the Commonwealth and Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and common views across many international issues, Minister Shahid expressed confidence for increased cooperation in the multilateral fora and stronger bilateral ties.

Minister Shahid conveyed the best wishes on behalf of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, the government and people of Maldives to Brunei, further highlighting Maldives’ keenness to strengthen people-to-people contacts between the two countries.

During his visit, the foreign minister also met with the ministers of education and health of Brunei.

Halal Standard Agreements Signed In Istanbul

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The Standards and Metrology Institute for Islamic Countries (SMIIC) and Turkey’s Independent Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association (MUSIAD) signed on Thursday two agreements to improve halal standardization capacity and awareness in the region.

The pacts, signed at MUSIAD’s headquarters in Istanbul, saw the participation of heads of both institutions, Abdurrahman Kaan and Ihsan Out.

While one agreement targets to organize joint events for awareness in the field, the other one aims to create a monitoring and traceability system for halal conformity assessment activities.

The accord is also meant to enable firms to adopt halal standards at all stages in manufacturing products and providing services.

Kaan said cleaning and eating habits prescribed in Islam were important for human health.

“Unfortunately, the consciousness in the Islamic world is low regarding halal production and consumption,” he said.

Speaking of the coronavirus outbreak, which surfaced last December and has claimed over 3,200 lives globally, he said there were claims that the disease originated from wild animals.

The importance of halal eating and halal slaughtering is being understood now, he added.

Originally published on www.aa.com

Malaysian Financial Sector has considerable Promise for Expansion

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malaysian-islamic-banking-sectorIn Malaysia, where annual economic growth has averaged just under 5 percent over the past five years, fintech is a part of everyday life. It is rapidly becoming a central part of the country’s financial sector, with considerable promise for expansion, according to new IMF analysis.

With its growing middle class, high mobile phone penetration rates, and strong government support for the digital economy, Malaysia is well situated to take advantage of fintech innovation. From mobile wallets and electronic payments to crowdfunding and “insurtech” (the combination of insurance and technology), Malaysian businesses and consumers appear ready to embrace the technology.

Internet banking in Malaysia has quadrupled in the last decade, topping a 90 percent usage rate in 2018. Mobile banking is also booming, supported by near-universal 4G network coverage, affordable data, and 5G is in the works. It’s no coincidence the World Economic Forum’s 2019 Network Readiness Index ranked Malaysia high among the 139 countries surveyed—ahead of Italy, China, and Chile—and first among countries in emerging and developing Asia.

Where’s the money?

The most commonly used forms of fintech in the country are digital payments and mobile wallets, followed by “insurtech,” lending, digital remittances, blockchain, crowdfunding, electronic Know-Your-Customer processes, and other forms of financial technology.

Developments in Malaysian fintech are altering the country’s financial sector landscape. For example, while fintech products offered by traditional financial institutions expand, the number of physical commercial bank branches is declining, and the number of automated teller machines has fallen over the last two years. Traditional Malaysian banks continue to dominate in deposits, lending, and raising capital while, at the same time, adopting new technologies and either competing or collaborating with new tech startups. As of April 2019, there were close to 200 startups in Malaysia in a range of fintech areas, including payments, lending, and blockchain.

Of course, the rapidly evolving technology—alongside new consumer habits—is not without risk or challenges. Malaysia has been a leader on regulations to ensure that the financial system remains safe amid the possibility of cybersecurity incidents. Well aware that cyberattacks can undercut customer confidence and inflict widespread damage, Malaysian banks and regulators list cybersecurity among their issues of top concern.

Additional challenges to future fintech growth in Malaysia, for both financial institutions and new fintech businesses, include a shortage of talent in key tech areas like data analytics and machine learning, regulatory burdens, and access to funding.

As a leader in Islamic finance, Malaysia has a unique position within Islamic fintech, according to IMF analysis. Islamic bank loan growth in the country expanded by 8.9 percent in 2018, compared to 2.5 percent for conventional banks. While Islamic fintech is still in its infancy in Malaysia, the central bank supports efforts to promote the sector. Islamic financial institutions can benefit from fintech in many of the same ways that conventional finance does. Some fintech tools could be particularly useful in Islamic finance, since improved transparency—a core principle of Islamic finance—could be a result.

Brazil To Increase Halal Chicken Export To Oman

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AO PAULO, March 5 – BRF SA, the world’s largest chicken exporter, has received 15 permits to export meat products from Brazil to Oman as it aims to strengthen its position in the Middle East market, the company said on Thursday.

The Brazilian food processor said in a statement it would be able to export up to 5,000 tonnes of food products per month to Oman, where it has had a commercial presence since the 1980s.

Oman is part of the lucrative halal market, which buys food according to Muslim dietary requirements. BRF’s net operating revenue from halal food sales totaled 2.2 billion reais ($475 million) in the fourth quarter.

BRF, which has a 12% share of the global poultry market, said plants approved to export to Oman are located in six Brazilian states.

Originally published on www.infosurhoy.com

Thailand To Invest In Pak Halal Food Industry

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Four major Thai companies had already invested in Pakistan while another four were exploring new opportunities for investment in Pakistan.

Lahore-: Consul General of Thailand Thatree Chauvachata on Saturday said Pakistan was one of the important trade partners of Thailand as both countries had ability to further strengthen mutual trade and economic ties.

He was addressing a meeting at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) where LCCI President Irfan Iqbal Sheikh, Senior Vice President Ali Hussam Asghar, Vice President Mian Zahid Jawaid Ahmad also spoke while Executive Committee Members Sheikh Muhammad Ibrahim, Haris Attiq, Zeshan Sohail Malik and Haji Asif Sehar were also present.

The consul general said, in 2019, the bilateral trade between two countries jumped to over $1.46 billion, adding that Thailand exported goods and services worth 1174.25 million dollar to Pakistan.

Among these included automobiles, crude oil, chemicals, rubber products, machinery and polymer, etc. Similarly Pakistani export to Thailand recorded an increase of 41.45 per cent in 2019, he said and added that among these export items included fresh aquatic animals, garments and textile, etc. He said Pakistan ranks 36th in Thailand’s in global investment while it ranked second in South Asia.

He maintained that four major Thai companies had already invested in Pakistan while another four were exploring new opportunities for investment in Pakistan.

The Thai consul general informed the house that very recently Pakistan’s Electro-Polymers Private Limited and Thai Stanley Electric Public Company Limited had inked a historic partnership by signing international try-party Joint Ventures with Japan, Thailand and Pakistan.

He said Thailand and Pakistan had been discussing Free Trade Agreement (FTA) since 2013 and hopefully it would be finalized very soothe n. He said Thailand was a major destination for tourists and last year around 80,000 Pakistani tourists visited the country.

He said political consultation at secretary level and meetings of Joint Economic Commission would be held during this year to further bolster economic relations between Pakistan and Thailand. He said that Pakistan had been actively participating in Asian Cooperation Dialogue while Thailand also supported Pakistan in its entry to ASEAN Regional Forum.

“In 2004 both countries signed MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) on Anti Terrorism and other related crimes”, he added. LCCI President Irfan Iqbal Sheikh said that Pakistan and Thailand enjoyed strong diplomatic relations based on mutual trust. He said that traditionally, Thailand and Pakistan had also been enjoying steady trade relations. Thailand comes at 9th place among the top importing countries and at 24th place among the top exporting countries for Pakistan.

“In recent years, the trade between the two countries has shown tremendous improvement. In 2016, the volume of two way trade was around one billion dollars that surged to 1.7 billion dollars in 2018. From 2016 to 2018, Pakistan’s exports to Thailand increased from 11,0 million dollars to 225 million dollars whereas Pakistan’s imports from Thailand went up from 920 million dollars to 1.4 billion, on dollars”, he mentioned. He said, “Pakistan’s exports to Thailand consist of frozen fish, wheat, mineral fuels and cotton etc whereas we are importing automotive parts, rubber tires, chemicals, polymers, artificial staple fibers and machinery parts etc from Thailand”.

The LCCI president said that a lot of further r progress could be made on the trade front by signing a Free Trade Agreement. The governments of both countries should take necessary steps in this regard.

Irfan Iqbal Sheikh said that Thailand had made substantial progress in Halal Food Exports in last few years. “The LCCI has also identified Halal Food as one of our priorities sectors where we can enhance our exports. We would certainly like to learn from your experience and also enter into Joint Ventures with your private sector companies in Halal Food sector”, he added.

LCCI Senior Vice President Ali Hussam Asghar said that Pakistan had a very vibrant and growing Information Technology sector which offered a tremendous room for joint ventures between the two countries.

LCCI office-bearers invited the Thai businessmen to arrange sector-specific delegations to visit Pakistan to have first hand knowledge about the opportunities of trade and investment in Pakistan.

They said that active engagement of the business community and diplomatic missions of the two countries, exchange of trade delegations, exhibitions of products and socio-cultural programmes in each others country could prove handy in further improving people to people contacts.

Nigerian Official Urges Businesses To Explore $3 Trillion Halal Fund

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Nigerian Official Urges Businesses To Explore $3 Trillion Halal FundThe President, Abuja Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) Adetokunbo Kayode has urged Nigerian businesses to embrace the Halal financial economy and benefit from the $3trillion business funding used to finance businesses all over the world.

Kayode made this call during a press briefing on the Halal Expo 2020 scheduled for June at the ACCI venue in Abuja, stating that if an economy is as big as $3trillion for any part of the world that will embrace this economy then there is need for the nation’s industrial sector to key into it.

The ACCI President lamented the exploitation by the commercial banks most of who fix their interest rate at 25%, which is on the very high side.

Specifically, he said, the Bank of Industry, Development Bank of Nigeria DBN and other banks who claim they are supporting small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) are actually strangulating businesses with their exorbitant interest rates.

He, however, said the Halal economy which is worth at least $3trillion, offers a lot of reliefs for prospective businesses out there. “The world is moving and we must move with the world, the Halal economy is huge and we must be of part of it. There is Halal fashion, food and a lot others, why should Nigeria not be part of it. We do not lose anything by being part of it. We can easily reach other African countries and even dominate through the Halal economy. It is still another way of opening doors of opportunity for Nigeria.”

While making a case for halal funding, he said, “As the President of the ACCI where all my people are SMEs and I see poverty I feel that we should charge non interest fee. If non interest finance comes by way of Halal finance all well and good. This is what is new and we must try it because we cannot continue to the same thing the same way every time and expect a different result.”

Covid-19 Outbreak & Its Implications On The Global Supply Chain System

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Implications of Covid-19 Virus On The Global Supply Chain SystemLet us face it. The last couple of decades have witnessed China becoming an economic superpower and supplying almost everything we consume on a daily basis. However, the Covid-19 virus outbreak may change the scenario altogether. According to The Economist, “an emotional decoupling is underway” We, as marketers, halal industry and Islamic finance professionals, have to wake up to the reality.

Do we have to reevaluate what our supply sources are going to be in the long run? Can we still continue to depend on China only to provide us all the raw materials and finished products for our businesses? What are the implications of the virus outbreak on the world supply-chain system? Is it a good business strategy to depend on one country for the products vital to your business and your economy?

What is your take on this issue? Please let us know. If you would like to write an article on this or a similar topic, we will be glad to publish it on The Halal Times

Indonesia, The Largest Muslim Country Becomes The Largest Halal Importer As Well

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Indonesia become the largest halal importerAlthough Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world in terms of population, it, unfortunately, also becomes the largest halal importer as well. Surprisingly, Brazil is the largest halal exporter in the world. This should be a wake-up call for Muslims around the globe. In fact, almost, 85 of whatever food we, as Muslims consume, comes from non-Muslim majority countries such as Brazil, Australia, New Zeland, Thailand and so many others.

This painful sentiment was echoed by the Indonesian Ulema Council Food and Drug Analysis Agency (LPPOM MUI) Director, Lukmanul Hakim, who claims that Indonesia has become the largest importer of halal products in the world.

In his opening speech in an international halal seminar at Bangka Belitung, Lukmanul revealed that the total value of those imports amounts to a total of USD 169.7 billion, which he says is an “antithesis for our Muslim-majority country that is yet active in the halal trade and industry.” he said on Wednesday.

As for the largest exporter of halal products, he said it is held by Brazil, mainly in its beef exports and other derivative products.

“At a time where a non-muslim majority country [is the leader] in the halal industry, Indonesia remains to dwell in discussions about halal’s substance, certifications, up to who has the right to issue a halal fatwa,” he quipped.

He further explained that Indonesia’s halal industry has an untapped potential to develop the halal fashion industry, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, and also halal-friendly travel services. Lukmanul said that this has been included in the government’s official program for 2020-2024.

Coronavirus To Cost Global Tourism At Least $22 Bil, Says World Tourism Body

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Madrid:- The deadly coronavirus epidemic will cost world tourism at least $22 billion owing to a drop in spending by Chinese tourists, the head of the World Travel and Tourism Council said Thursday. The figure does not take into account the losses due to the overall drop of world tourism by other nationalities.

The COVID-19 epidemic has killed more than 2,760 people, mostly in China — where it first emerged in December — and infected more than 81,000 in over 45 countries.

“It is too soon to know but the WTTC has made a preliminary calculation in collaboration with (a research firm) Oxford Economics which estimates that the crisis will cost the sector at least $22 billion,” Gloria Guevara told El Mundo daily.

“This calculation is based on the experience of previous crises, such as SARS or H1N1, and is based on losses deriving from Chinese tourists who have not been traveling in recent weeks,” she said.

“The Chinese are the tourists who spend most when they travel.”

The loss figure, which equates to about 20.2 billion euros, is the most optimistic scenario envisaged by the study which was published on February 11 by Oxford Economics, taking the hypothesis of a 7.0 percent drop in overseas trips by Chinese nationals.

But the losses could more than double, reaching as much as $49 billion if the crisis lasts as long as the SARS outbreak, which erupted in November 2002 and was brought under control in July 2003.

And it could spiral to $73 billion if it lasted longer than that, Oxford Economics said.

The economies most likely to suffer would be those most dependent on Chinese tourism, such as Hong Kong and Macau, Thailand, Cambodia, and the Philippines, researchers found.

On Wednesday, the WTO urged countries to avoid taking health measures that would cause “unnecessary interference with international traffic and trade” saying travel restrictions needed to be proportionate to ensure they did not have “negative repercussions on the tourism sector”.

2020 AFP.

Luxury Still Driving Travel Landscape In GCC Countries

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In the past two decades, the travel landscape has significantly changed in GCC countries. But, the concept of luxury has remained a vital element of the change.  The UAE and Saudia Arabia have been in the driving seats.

Statistics from 2018 showed that the UAE alone has 73 percent of the region’s luxury properties. The country is poised to remain the GCC luxury segment leader well into 2022.

A close second in line is Saudi Arabia which is, predicted to witness the sharpest rise in luxury hotel supply by 2022 with a compound annual growth rate of 18 percent from 2018 onwards, compared to just 10 percent in the UAE, 11 percent in Oman and Kuwait, and 9 percent in Bahrain.

The Arabian Travel Market research firm showed that luxury properties in the region tripled in just 10 years, with 95 percent operated by international management brands.

However, things are shifting, including the demographics of the region’s visitors. The surge in three and four-star hotels in Dubai alone shows the market is demanding more variety. For the region to continue to evolve and thrive in the travel sector, options are key.

Amadeus research found there are no signs of let-up, predicting luxury travel in the region will continue at the same pace until 2025 with not only the hotels but their luxury airlines a point of focus too.

 

This diversification has helped keep Dubai relevant, and most of all, affordable. Market leader Jumeirah’s recent Zabeel House openings have proven this change. When the emirate’s foremost luxury brand opens in areas not usually considered travel hotspots, including The Greens, one can see things are clearly evolving.

Dubai is unique, with around 60 percent of its business still in luxury properties. Like Jumeirah, Emaar also responded to this changing landscape, creating Rove Hotels, a mid-market alternative to its luxury counterparts.

With openings such as Kingfisher Lodge in Sharjah, by the emirate’s development arm Shurooq and taken over by luxury operator, Mysk, where peak time rates at the luxury camping lodge rival those of some of the world’s most expensive properties, there is no lack of faith in the luxury market.

Saudi Arabia’s huge investment in the Red Sea is another show of trust in the luxury sector. The projects underway are tapping into the clientele who would usually go to the likes of the Seychelles or Maldives, but allow them the cultural reassurances of Halal travel. The development of Amaala, a new ultra-luxury tourism mega-project earmarked for completion in 2028, will add a massive 2,500 hotel rooms.

But Saudi Arabia, like its neighbor, Dubai, is also broadening its offerings, with over 9,000 combined keys of three, four and five-star international supply expected in 2019.

Amadeus research found there are no signs of letting up, predicting luxury travel in the region will continue at the same pace until 2025 with not only the hotels but their luxury airlines a point of focus too.

Even where experiences have turned into big money, in the likes of the most northern of the UAE’s emirates, Ras Al Khaimah, it’s luxury sector still thrives, properties such as the Waldorf Astoria among its shining jewels. And with the World Cup’s arrival imminent, Qatar continues to put its trust in yet more luxury properties around its capital, Doha.

Learning the lessons of countries like China is key. Suffering an oversupply of luxury properties, the UAE went through a similar challenge, but with a huge investment in mid-market properties, tourism chiefs have ensured the country stays relevant, whatever the region’s economic fortunes.