Intra-OIC Outsourcing Boost Halal Products Of Member Countries

International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz said trade in halal products and services provide greater opportunities for business linkages among companies in the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC).

She said such linkages can be established through trade in finished products and supply of services, as well as create and intra-OIC outsourcing potential for the companies.

"This is possible when some OIC countries can provide halal raw materials and input for processing and manufacturing in other OIC countries, creating an intra-OIC supply chain with the obvious spin-offs and advantages," she said.

This could help to expand the current intra-OIC trade which represents only 14.3 percent of the total global trade of the OIC countries, she told reporters after the joint launch of the Fourth Malaysia International Halal Showcase (MIHAS 2007) and the World Halal Forum 2007 (WHF 2007), here Monday.

Both events will be held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) with the WHF 2007 from May 7-8 and MIHAS 2007 from May 9-13.

Present at the event today were chairman of the World Halal Forum, Khairy Jamaluddin, Matrade chief executive officer, Datuk Noharuddin Nordin, MIHAS 2007 chief executive officer, Mohd Shukri Abdullah and Halal Industry Development Corp Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Datuk Jamil Bidin.

"Through WHF and MIHAS, we hope companies in the OIC countries can begin to see themselves as part of the global chain," she said.

"We sourced from each other the input for halal industry. The same thing for non-food like pharmaceutical, toiletaries and so on. We can then trade with each other in terms of outsourcing," the minister added.