Halal Development Council (HDC) Secretary General and CEO Asad Sajjad represented Pakistan in the sixth World Halal Forum (WHF) in Malaysia which was attended by over 600 delegates from 40 countries. This year’s WHF, inaugurated by former Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi hit the right note by merging the concepts of Islamic Finance and the Halal industry into one integrated ‘Halal Economy’. This is a step forward for both industries to work closer together to elevate the Halal economy, with Islamic Finance as the key driver in this new world economy that seeks to serve 1.8 billion Muslims worldwide.
WHF Director Abdul Hamid Evans stated that, “this year’s World Halal Forum was a new milestone for the global Halal industry, moving past the discussions about standards development and slaughter techniques, towards addressing many of the wider strategic growth issues posed in the Halal marketplace. The initial steps towards the convergence of the Halal sector and Islamic finance opens up the market from two sides and is potentially much bigger than is currently realised.
The convergence of these two Shariah-based industries forms a strong economic platform that is built on a set of shared values –values that will play an increasingly strategic role in shaping global markets in the coming decade, hence the theme for WHF 2011 was “Towards a Halal Economy: The Power of Values in Global Markets”.
