Malaysia Firm Mulls Setting Up Global Halal Support Centres Abroad

PETALING JAYA (Selangor,Malaysia), June 11 (Bernama) -- The Halal Industry Development Corp (HDC) is studying the possibility of setting up Global Halal Support Centres (GHSC) abroad. A GHSC, which costs RM2 million (US$630,705.93) to build and develop, is a one-stop centre for functional services in support of the Halal industry in line with Malaysia's ambition to become the global halal hub. "Even before we launched this (GHSC), we already got requests from foreign countries to set up the same facility in their country," HDC Chief Executive Officer Jamil Bidin said, citing China in particular. He was speaking to reporters after the launch of GHSC by the Minister of International Trade and Industry Mustapa Mohamed here Monday. A GHSC provides application processing and advisory services, conference and exhibition services, a Halal knowledge centre and knowledge broadcasting services via cutting-edge technology such as mobile applications, i-kiosk, widget business-to-business (B2B) portal, and social media networking. Jamil said for business purposes, a B2B portal was created to bring buyers and sellers together. "The portal currently has a base of 13 million visitors from 100 countries. "Future enhancement of the portal will focus on integrating it with smart TV to provide online shopping capabilities," he said. Last year, Malaysia exported Halal products worth RM35.4 billion (US$11.16 billion), contributing five per cent of the country's total exports. -- BERNAMA