IHAF Growing Membership Worldwide

DUBAI — The credibility of the International Halal Accreditation Forum, IHAF, the world’s first halal accreditation network is further strengthened as the number of countries and international organizations joining its halal standardization initiative continues to increase.

The UAE-based International Halal Accreditation Forum (IHAF), the world’s first halal accreditation network, has taken a major leap toward spreading its standardized halal accreditation agenda worldwide with the approval of accreditation agencies from the Philippines, and Kazakhstan as members. Other member countries under IHAF in the Asia Pacific and the Middle East include the UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Australia, New Zealand, India, Thailand, Pakistan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Yemen, and the rest of GCC countries. 

The forum has been actively discussing the means to decrease trade barriers in the global halal ecosystem by working with 37 recognized accreditation bodies, representing 34 countries.  And, the number continues to grow.

Dr. Ameri, the Secretary-General of IHAF said, “The objective of IHAF is to create an ecosystem that can trade goods with no barriers across the globe. This empowers traders from member countries since the goods that are traded are guaranteed halal, as per the unified standards. This act of unification is vital to ensure the continued growth of halal trade globally. It will protect the integrity of the entire halal value chain. With this, we are looking forward to further forging partnerships and advocating the unification of halal standards worldwide.”

As per the report from State of the Global Islamic Economy 2019/2020, four of the top five halal exporting countries – Brazil, Australia, Sudan and India – are IHAF members. Moreover, the top five out of 10 countries, which are global Islamic economic indicators of halal food in the world – the UAE, Brazil, Australia, Sudan and Pakistan–are also recognized as IHAF members.

IHAF is also entering into technical cooperation agreements with different organizations and believes that standardizing halal accreditation worldwide is essential to easily establish which products are genuinely halal.

The current member countries of IHAF include Argentina, Australia, Belarus, Brazil, Bulgaria, Columbia, Costa Rica, Egypt, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, The Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Russia, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sudan, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.