HDC opens Halal food channel to France
PARIS: Halal Industry Development Corporation (HDC) is set to step up its presence in Europe following a strategic partnership with French Glon Groupe, which will spur bilateral trade of halal products in a Halal corridor between France and Malaysia.
HDC, which is wholly owned by the government, signed a memorandum of understanding with Benefiq Pte Ltd, a newly formed company that will lead Glon’s agri food business thrust in Asia, in Paris yesterday.
The MoU will establish a strategic partnership to facilitate bilateral opportunities between Malaysia and France in the areas of trade, supply chain management and research and development.
The Singapore-based Benefiq is a leading French vertical agriculture integrator — a proprietary service standard and process that provides quality assurance throughout the entire agricultural supply chain from the development and creation of the product and its distribution, to the final end-user.
The signing ceremony was witnessed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is on a four-day official visit to France. Signing on behalf of HDC was its CEO Datuk Seri Jamil Bidin while Benefiq was represented by its chairman Benoit Glon.
Under the MoU, HDC will collaborate with Benefiq to provide Malaysian companies the opportunities to further develop their skills in R&D and modern agriculture TECHNOLOGY []. The MoU will set up the world’s first working platform between Malaysia and Bretagne, France to expand bilateral trade of halal products between the two countries.
The Halal Corridor project is being developed as a catalyst for agri food businesses from France to penetrate the global halal markets under Malaysia’s globally recognised halal accreditation and for Malaysian agri businesses to enter the European Union (EU) market via the Bretagne’s EU-recognition.
This will involve establishing a HDC-Benefiq halal programme, which will streamline all halal-only products that are bilaterally traded in the project.
Jalil said: “Today’s MoU with Glon Groupe’s Asian representative Benefiq is indeed a significant milestone for HDC and the halal industry in echoing the prime minister’s call to make Malaysia an international hub for halal products and services.
“HDC will continue to strive to identify strategic partners like Benefiq, to help accelerate the growth of the halal industry. By collaborating with Benefiq, HDC aims to provide a platform for companies in Malaysia with an opportunity to penetrate the halal market in Europe via Britanny, as the gateway.
“Importantly, it will allow French companies to use Malaysia as a base to penetrate the Asean market.”
Given that the concept of halal is universal, Jamil said it promotes cleanliness, safety and quality that are hallmarks of many globally recognised food standards.
He added: “Malaysia will assume a significant role in the halal marketplace as HDC believes the halal market will offer new sources of growth, wealth and additional income for the nation.”
A statement released in conjunction with the signing ceremony, said the Glon Groupe, a leading European agri food company with an annual turnover of €1.65 billion (RM8.3 billion) and 60 years of experience in the food processing industry, would bring its time-tested philosophy of creating a successful agricultural eco-system to benefit all involved in the “halal agricultural value food chain”.
It said the emphasis would be to ensure that sovereign security for food supply chain management is available to Malaysians and the overall halal market. Benefiq’s primary focus is to position Malaysia as a strategic hub and centre of excellence for the halal market in Asia and the rest of the world.
With the MoU, the halal industry will have access to breakthrough technology that leads in traceability and sustainability from “farm to fork”.
Information from HalalFocus.com
