By Kris M. Crismundo
MANILA, April 9 (PNA) — The Philippines is aiming to strengthen its Halal industry and eyeing a one-stop-shop in Mindanao, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Undersecretary Ponciano C. Manalo Jr. told reporters.
Manalo, who recently came from an investment forum and a business mission in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, said the country should further develop its Halal industry in order to get a share in the global demand on Halal food and non-food products.
He added that strengthening the local Halal industry can also boost the country’s food exports to UAE and other nations in the Middle East, which majority of the population are Muslims.
“Our biggest interest [to UAE] is food… As you know the UAE, 85 percent of food requirement is imported so that’s a big opportunity for us to get Halal-certified product,” he said.
“[We need] to be proficient in Halal certification so we can export products in UAE. That’ll be very good for Mindanao because that’s our food basket,” the DTI official added.
Manalo mentioned that one of the goals of the country is to have a one-stop-shop for Halal certification which is eyed in Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority, as pushed by its chair and administrator Christopher Lawrence Arnuco Jr.
“Chris Arnuco has an advocacy and we talked about that a lot. I said you have to focus on something and we see the opportunities for Halal certified products that can be exported to Middle East and other ASEAN countries,” said Manalo.
The government official cited that Halal food market in the Middle East is a USD600-billion dollar industry.
“If you capture 1.0 percent and that’s USD6 billion and your GDP (gross domestic product) is USD290 billion, even you get only 1.0 percent of the market that’s an additional 2.0 to 3.0 percent to your GDP growth. That’s only for food products,” Manalo explained.
Meanwhile, Manalo mentioned that UAE-based firms are interested in investment projects in the Philippines.
“Infrastructure in general, not necessarily PPP (public-private partnership). Though they are interested primarily to commercial development,” he said.
“We’re going to make a big pitch in infrastructure development,” he added. (PNA)