International Halal Lifestyle Conference and Expo Kicks off in Jakarta

Jakarta, MINA – The Chairman of the Halal Lifestyle Center (HLC) Sapta Nirwandar has expressed his optimism that Indonesia will be more advanced in the world’s halal sector.

He made the remarks in the opening ceremony of an international conference entitled “The 2nd Indonesia International Halal Lifestyle and Expo” attended by international producers of halal products in Jakarta, Thursday.

Sapta said the conference is in line with the government’s efforts to target 5 million Muslim tourists visiting Indonesia by 2020 out of a total of 168 million Muslim tourists worldwide.

“The target is a challenge for all of us,” Sapta said in his welcoming speech to the conference in his capacity as the organizer.

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According to the former Deputy Minister of Tourism, it would be ironic for Indonesia to be the largest Muslim country with abundant resources missed the opportunity to attract Muslim tourists while non-Muslim countries competed fiercely to lure them.

Currently, countries such as Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia have made halal lifestyle as a business opportunity they are pursuing intensively.

Seeing this, the Head of the Natonal Development Planning Board (Bappenas) Bambang Brodjonehoro who opened the conference stated that Indonesia has been lagging enough compared to these countries. However, there are certain sectors that can still be developed into the international sphere.

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“Our largest manufacturing sector is food and beverage products. Automatically we have to strengthen this. And this could be our backbone in the international world, “he said.

In addition, according to Bambang, Indonesia’s next opportunity is fashion or clothing that could be a great opportunity in the international arena.

“No need to have big ambitions to be halal hub. We focus first just the same thing, “he said.

This year’s Expo will feature 150 producers of halal products from home and abroad, including products from Muslim minority countries such as Korea, Japan and Thailand, which have been promoting halal issues in the countries.

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Speakers from these countries will also share their experiences and express their views with Indonesian and other participants such as the Director of General of the Islamic Cultural Center in London. Ahmad Al-Dubayan and Director of Internationa Business Affair of KIHI-Korea Kim Jin Woo. (L/RE1/RI-1/RS5)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)