Malaysia and Indonesia Create Halal Council to Ease Cross-Border Trade

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept. 25, 2026 — Malaysia and Indonesia are creating a bilateral council to address one of the less visible obstacles to trade in halal products: the differing requirements and procedures that companies must navigate before their goods can cross the border.

The Malaysia-Indonesia Halal Council was announced Friday by Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi at the Global Halal Summit in Kuala Lumpur, held alongside the Malaysia International Halal Showcase, or MIHAS.

The council will be chaired by Indonesia’s Halal Product Assurance Organising Agency, known as BPJPH, while Malaysia will serve as its secretary-general. Its first meeting is scheduled for October, when the two countries are expected to focus on facilitating halal certification and, in turn, bilateral halal trade.

The announcement comes after years of cooperation between the neighboring countries. Malaysia and Indonesia signed a memorandum of cooperation on halal matters in 2023, and bilateral negotiations on facilitating halal certification and trade were concluded in June, Mr. Ahmad Zahid said.

The new council is intended to give that cooperation a more formal mechanism.

Mr. Ahmad Zahid said it would address differences in halal requirements, repeated procedures and difficulties encountered by businesses seeking to enter each other’s markets. He described the objective in practical terms: reducing duplication, facilitating trade and connecting businesses with regional supply chains.

For companies, the significance may lie less in the creation of another government body than in what the body eventually does with the rules governing certification.

Halal certification is not confined to a single product category. It can affect food and beverages as well as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, health care products, logistics and other parts of the halal economy. For companies seeking to sell across borders, differences in certification requirements can add administrative work and cost even when the underlying products already meet halal standards.

The council is therefore being established at a moment when both countries are looking beyond certification itself toward the larger question of how certification can translate into exports.

Malaysia has set a target of about RM80 billion in halal exports by 2030. Mr. Ahmad Zahid said that only about 14.7 percent of Malaysia’s halal-certified companies currently export, underscoring the gap between obtaining certification and successfully reaching overseas markets.

“Certification is only the beginning of that journey,” he said, pointing to other requirements for companies seeking to export, including consistent production, appropriate packaging, working capital, logistics and knowledge of target markets.

That distinction is important. The establishment of the council does not by itself mean that Malaysia and Indonesia have eliminated differences in their certification systems. Rather, the October meeting is expected to begin work on facilitating certification between the two countries.

The two governments have described their respective strengths as complementary. Malaysia brings experience in standards, governance, Islamic finance and trade facilitation, Mr. Ahmad Zahid said, while Indonesia brings production scale and entrepreneurship. The intention is to use those capabilities to expand market access and investment.

The bilateral initiative also sits within a larger effort to build institutions around the region’s expanding halal economy.

Earlier this month, Malaysia proposed the establishment of an ASEAN Halal Council, with Malaysia offering to serve as its secretariat and Indonesia proposed as its inaugural chair. Malaysia has proposed launching that council in September 2027, subject to agreement by ASEAN member states.

The ASEAN proposal is broader than the new Malaysia-Indonesia council. It is intended to bring a wider group of Southeast Asian countries into a framework for cooperation on halal standards, certification and accreditation.

The bilateral council, by contrast, begins with two countries and a more immediate problem: making it easier for companies to move halal products between two closely connected markets.

For Malaysia, the issue is particularly relevant to its effort to turn its established halal certification system into greater export performance. For Indonesia, cooperation with Malaysia provides another channel for addressing certification and trade issues with one of the region’s most developed halal economies.

The next test will come in October, when the council holds its first meeting.

Until then, the practical details remain to be worked out. The announcement establishes the council, identifies its leadership and sets its initial focus. Whether it can reduce duplication and make cross-border certification more predictable will depend on the arrangements the two countries ultimately put in place.

That makes the October meeting more than a procedural first step. It will be the point at which a political commitment announced at one of the region’s largest halal trade gatherings begins to be translated into rules that companies can use.