Global halal market ushers in hope for Bangladesh

Commerce Secretary Zafar Uddin on Wednesday said Bangladesh has a good prospect in the global market for halal products.

Calling upon the business people and relevant stakeholders to materialise the opportunity, the secretary said, “There is a huge potential for halal products in the global market and it has gradually been widened. We have enough ability to export the halal products and we have to utilise the opportunity.”

Zafar said Bangladesh is moving forward to be a developing country from a least developed one by 2024.

After gaining the graduation, there will be no scope for the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) facility for Bangladesh and then it will be a great challenge for the country to compete in the world export market, he observed.

“We will have to grab the world export market with our halal products and it is high time for this,” said the secretary, while addressing a programme organised by the commerce ministry at the CIRDAP auditorium in Dhaka.

Stressing the need for adopting a work plan to reach the goal, he said many countries are exporting halal products by forming Halal Certification Authority.

There is a scope to learn from their experiences, said the secretary, adding: “We will have to increase our export volume utilising our own abilities and fulfilling the terms and conditions of the halal products.”

“We have a lot of halal products and skilled manpower. We can build more skilled manpower through providing training,” he added.