A coconut milk production line at Bienco Company in Bến Tre Province. The province has 14 Halal certified enterprises meeting the conditions to export products to Muslim countries’ market. VNA/VNS Photo

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Phạm Quang Hiệu speaks to the media about strengthening international cooperation to develop the Halal industry in Việt Nam.

Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính recently approved a project to strengthen international cooperation to build and develop the Halal industry in Việt Nam towards 2030. How do you assess the importance of this move?

The project, approved on February 14, has been compiled over the past two years thanks to cooperation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other ministries, overseas Vietnamese representing agencies, localities, businesses, associations, as well as consultation of domestic and foreign experts.

This is the first project that provides a major national orientation on mobilising international resources to build and develop the Vietnamese Halal industry methodically, professionally and comprehensively, helping Vietnamese businesses deeply and effectively engage in the global Halal product supply and production chain.

The project creates a new direction for economic diplomacy serving development, helping Việt Nam exploit potential of the Halal market with expected scale of up to US$10 trillion worldwide by 2028.

This also creates a new impetus for Việt Nam’s sustainable economic development, especially when traditional markets are facing lots of difficulties due to inflation and economic recession.

In that context, diversifying export markets and opening new and potential markets are considered as a golden key to boost Việt Nam's exports and make positive contributions to the country's economic development.

The global Halal market has huge potential in terms of size, population growth, spending, industry diversity as well as its development prospects.

The project contributes to strengthening and deepening Việt Nam's relationship with important Halal product-consuming countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, enhancing the role and position of Việt Nam and Vietnamese enterprises on the global Halal map.

The global Halal industry is assessed to have lots of room for development. What do you think about new opportunities for Vietnamese enterprises in the global Halal industry in the future?

Việt Nam has a lot of potential and opportunities in the global Halal market.

The global Halal industry is extremely large with about 1.94 billion people in 2022, accounting for nearly a quarter of the world's population and will be increasing in size.

The size of the global Halal economy will reach $7 trillion in 2022 and is expected to increase to about $10 trillion before 2028. Halal product consumption market is widely distributed around the world, from Muslim countries to non-Muslim.

The level of consumption and use of Halal products tend to increase, expanding to non-Muslim markets as Halal products meet many criteria on food safety, quality and environmental protection. The largest Halal producing countries in the world are mostly non-Muslim countries.

Major Muslim consumer markets or importers of Halal products in the world such as Korea, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Malaysia have expressed interest and desire to promote cooperation with Việt Nam to serve domestic consumption and export.

Việt Nam has lots of advantages for developing the Halal industry such as favourable geographical position; strengths in agriculture, food, tourism and services; extensive and comprehensive international economic integration when participating in leading regional economic links including new-generation free trade agreements.

The Vietnamese Government is interested in opening and supporting Vietnamese enterprises to effectively engage in the global Halal market.

The opportunities for Vietnamese businesses to participate in the global Halal market are huge.

Việt Nam can not only diversify import-export markets, develop tourism, but also expand the export of products that we have strengths in such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics.

We can also attract financial investment from international and regional corporations.

It will help Vietnamese enterprises and localities improve their capacity, competitiveness, quality of human resources and promote technology transfer, especially technology of production, processing, preservation and transportation to meet Halal standards.

As an agency taking the main responsibility for the project implementation, what will the Ministry of Foreign Affairs do in 2023 in order to mobilise international resources to develop the Halal industry in Việt Nam?

The project has received great attention and high expectations from the Government, ministries, localities and businesses. Right after the project was approved, the ministry has taken a number of solutions.

They include combining the plan of developing the Vietnamese Halal industry with bilateral cooperation with partners; trade promotion and investment in Halal products and services; supporting and connecting Vietnamese localities and businesses with global Halal markets.

The ministry will promote information dissemination to raise awareness of people, businesses and localities about basic Halal knowledge such as concepts, standards, certifications, and trends.

The ministry is coordinating with agencies and localities to promote two-way communication in order to raise awareness, support and encourage businesses and localities to produce products and services meeting Halal standards, in association with industry and local development planning.

The ministry has also instructed provinces and cities to develop action plans, focusing on raising public awareness about the Halal industry, Islamic culture; and promoting the image and brands of Việt Nam’s Halal products and services to the global market.

Sticking to the motto of diplomacy serving economy and development, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will coordinate with the ministries of agriculture and rural development, science and technology, industry and trade, home affairs and related agencies in closely monitoring and supporting localities and businesses to strengthen international cooperation.

I believe that with the current good momentum of cooperation between Việt Nam and other countries, especially the Muslim community, the Halal industry will become an important field of cooperation, deepening bilateral relationship with partners as well as contributing to the development and common prosperity of Việt Nam and other countries. VNS