Making Vietnam an indispensable destination on the global Halal map

On the afternoon of October 22, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attended and spoke at the Conference "Fostering international cooperation and mobilizing internal resources to develop Vietnam's Halal industry".

The conference was co-organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, aiming to create substantial changes and effectively implement the Project "Strengthening international cooperation to build and develop Vietnam's Halal industry by 2030".

An indispensable destination on the global Halal map

Addressing the conference, PM Pham Minh Chinh highly commended the initiative of the three ministries in organizing this event, which has helped shape Vietnam's Halal industry development strategy and opened up new business and investment opportunities.

The PM underscored the significance of the conference in promoting economic, cultural, and human connections between Vietnam and other nations through Halal products and services.

Highlighting the potential of the global Halal market, the PM affirmed Vietnam's commitment to developing its Halal industry into a strong sector, positioning the country as an essential destination on the global Halal map and a key link in the international Halal supply chain.

He emphasized that Vietnam has three important pillars supporting the development of its Halal industry:

First, Vietnam enjoys a stable political and social environment, a growing economy, and an expanding population. It ranks 34th globally in terms of economic scale, is among the top 20 countries with the largest trade volume, and benefits from a "golden" population period with 100 million people.

Second, Vietnam has progressively expanded its foreign relations and international economic ties, boasting diplomatic relations with 194 countries, strategic and comprehensive partnerships with 32 nations, membership in over 70 key regional and international organizations, and strong cooperation with the global Muslim community.

Third, Vietnam's advantageous geographical location and favorable natural conditions position it to deepen its involvement in Halal product and service supply chains. The country has extensive experience and contributions to global food security, numerous agricultural products that meet Halal standards, and competitive advantages in tourism development, including Halal tourism, with its long coastline and diverse ecosystems.

The PM also affirmed Vietnam’s three pillars in developing the Halal industry. First, Vietnam hopes to make Halal an “important economic cooperation content, a new pillar, a new driving force” in developing relations with Halal countries.

Second, Vietnam considers Halal a “golden opportunity” for Vietnamese enterprises to improve production capacity and effectively participate in the global Halal market.

Third, Vietnam advocates developing the Halal industry on the basis of respecting cultural values, especially human culture and the value of peaceful coexistence, demonstrating Vietnam’s contribution and responsibility to jointly build a peaceful, diverse, harmonious and mutually developing world.

In order for Vietnam to promote its internal strength and boost international cooperation on Halal, the PM suggested that it is necessary to carry out 5 promotions, including promoting cooperation in sharing information and experience; promoting negotiations, signing agreements, memorandums of understanding, mutual recognition and recognition agreements on Halal certification; promoting regional and international partners to invest and do business in Vietnam; promoting and promoting Vietnam's Halal products, services and brands and opening markets; promoting people-to-people exchanges, cultural exchanges, enhancing understanding and helping each other develop together.

Enhancing Halal Law

Speaking at the plenary session, Minister of Science and Technology Huynh Thanh Dat emphasized that Vietnam has a strong foundation in science and technology to research and develop high-quality Halal products. He reaffirmed Vietnam's commitment to working closely with international partners to standardize production processes and enhance the country's Halal certification capacity, ensuring compliance with the stringent demands of the global market.

At the conference, both domestic and international delegates praised Vietnam's potential, strengths, and strategic efforts in actively integrating into the global Halal market.

Mohamed Jinna, Chairman of the Halal Authority of India, stated that Vietnam faces a "bright future" in accessing the "wide-open" global Halal market. He remarked that Halal certification will serve as the “gateway” for Vietnam to tap into diverse industries such as food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, fashion, and tourism.

Ihsan Ovut, Secretary General of the Standards and Metrology Institute for Islamic Countries (SMIIC), commended Vietnam’s dynamic economic growth and its potential for expanding into Halal tourism, Halal food, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals.

Meanwhile, Moteb Al-Mezani, Chairman of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Halal Certification Center, highlighted that product certification, including Halal certification, is the ultimate expression of trust in product quality. He added that Vietnam’s policies for developing the Halal industry align with the development priorities and cooperative goals of the Gulf nations.

Delegates expressed confidence that Vietnam’s ongoing efforts to promote international cooperation will yield positive outcomes, further contributing to Vietnam’s socio-economic development and advancing the global Halal industry.

Delegates agreed that in order to effectively participate in the global Halal market, Vietnam needs to focus on a number of key groups of measures, including supporting the connection of localities and businesses with partners and the global Halal market in priority areas such as agriculture, tourism, textiles, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics; promoting investment attraction, technical support, training support and human resource development.

Along with that, Vietnam should continue to build and enhance the legal framework and state management policies on Halal, optimize the certification process, promote mutual recognition and recognition of Halal certification; promote cultural and people-to-people exchanges to enhance mutual understanding between Vietnam and Muslim countries and communities around the world.

The conference conveyed the message of a Vietnam ready to “cooperate and develop together,” harmoniously combining the “internal strength” from domestic potentials and strengths with the “external strength” from promoting effective international cooperation to serve the development of the industry, the Halal ecosystem of Vietnam comprehensively and sustainably, gradually affirming a solid position on the global Halal map.

Within the framework of the Conference, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and delegates witnessed the introduction of the Vietnam National Halal Certification Center (HALCERT), the Vietnam Halal Standards, the launching ceremony of the “Halal Corner” on the World and Vietnam Newspaper, and the handover ceremony of 5 cooperation documents between the GCC Certification Center, the Korean Halal Agency, the European Halal Certification Center, the Halal Academy of GAE Company Limited (Malaysia) and the Quang Ninh Provincial Tourism Association with Vietnamese state management agencies on standards and Halal.