KITA (Chairman: Jin Sik Yoon), KOTRA, Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation (aT), Korea Testing & Research Institute (KTR) and Korea Food Research Institute (KFRI) signed an multi-party MOU on supporting exporter companies' entry into the Halal region on Friday, 16 October at KITA HQs in Seoul.
This MOU was proposed to respond to stronger regulations and mandatory Halal certification (to be) imposed by Muslim world countries, including Indonesia, at a time of fast growth of the Halal region. The MOU will serve as grounds for concentrating the capabilities of five different organisations to remove potential hurdles Korean exporter companies can experience during the process of entering the Halal region market and provide them with a full range of support from up-to-date information on Halal certification and regulations to establishing overseas business operations in the region.
The MOU signing ceremony was attended by Hee-cheol Jeong, the Executive Director of Trade Promotion Group at KITA, Gwan-mook, the Head of the Economic Security & Trade Cooperation Office at KOTRA, Kee-chan Jeon, the Head of the Trade & Food Industry Division at aT, Joong-ha Shin, the Head of the Global Business Division at KTR and Young-chan Kim, the Head of Food Indsutry Research Division at KFRI.
Up until now, in accordance with the field of expertise, each organisation offered different up-to-date information on the Halal industry and programmes aimed at supporting Korean companies engaged in the Halal business. With the signing of this MOU, a centralised platform will be established to make best of use of this information to facilitate Korean companies in gathering information they need, including information on testing/analysis, Halal certification, overseas market updates and marketing.
Specifically, the following services will be provided in the future - a) information sharing of Halal certification, Halal-relevant policies and regulations by nation and up-to-date situation of the Halal region, b) connecting services offered by different organisations by taking advantage of the planned centralised platform, c) supporting collaboration among exporter companies in collectively responding to issues relevant to Halal certification and bottlenecks in entering the local market and d) consolidation of services, including testing/analysis, counselling and overseas marketing support.
By taking this MOU as an opportunity, KITA plans to facilitate information sharing with four other organisations and search possible avenues of collaborative projects to upgrade the level of support for Korean exporter companies with an emphasis of entering the Halal region market, thereby lowering the entry barrier.
** Photo description: From the left are Young-chan Kim, the Head of Food Industry Research Division at KFRI, Kee-chan Jeon, the Head of the Trade & Food Industry Division at aT, Hee-cheol Jeong, the Executive Director of Trade Promotion Group at KITA, Gwan-mook, the Head of the Economic Security & Trade Cooperation Office at KOTRA and Joong-ha Shin, the Head of the Global Business Division at KTR.