Philippines develops national road map for halal industry

The Philippine Department of Trade and Industry is preparing a nationwide road map for the halal industry as it gears up to launch an international exhibition next year to showcase its best halal products, Azernews reports, citing Arab News.

The predominantly Catholic Philippines has set big targets to expand its domestic halal industry in the hopes of tapping into the global halal market, which is estimated to be worth more than $7 trillion.

“We are putting all the government planning strategy in one document ... the road map of the Philippine halal industry. That includes all the government agencies that are part of the Halal Board and other stakeholders,” Aleem Guiapal, project manager of the DTI Halal Industry Development Program, told Arab News earlier this week.

“We have established the direction. We are cleared at our goal for the next five years: Raise 230 billion pesos ($4 billion) in investments and generate around 120,000 jobs.”