Vice President: Halal Industry Plays A Strategic Role In Boosting National Economy

Vice President Ma'ruf Amin/PHOTO VIA ANTARA

JAKARTA - Vice President Ma'ruf Amin said the halal industry has a strategic role in improving the national economy.

"This can be seen from the number of countries in the world that focus on developing the halal industry, including countries that have relatively few Muslim populations, such as Brazil, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, and China," said Ma'ruf Amin at the opening of Indonesia Sharia Economics Festival (ISEF) quoted by Antara, Wednesday, October 27.

Therefore, the government continues to strive to increase the role of the halal industry in national economic growth. The government, among other things, issued the Indonesian Islamic Economic Masterplan (Meksi) 2019-2014 as a master plan or strategic direction for the development of Islamic finance in Indonesia.

The government is also strengthening Islamic economic and financial institutions, by turning them into the National Committee for Sharia Economics and Finance (KNEKS) through Presidential Regulation Number 28 of 2020 where the President acts as chairman and the Vice President as Deputy Chair and Daily Chairperson of KNEKS.

"The Ministry of Industry has issued Decree of the Minister of Industry Number 17 of 2020 concerning procedures for obtaining a certificate in the context of establishing a halal industrial area, which is the first step in establishing a halal industrial area in Indonesia," he said.

Furthermore, the government will continue to make breakthroughs to support the development of the halal industry, among others by issuing policies and programs such as codification of halal products, halal certification, providing incentives for halal industrial areas.

Then support for sharia financing, the establishment of a halal product industry ecosystem, increasing literacy and inclusion, digitizing sharia businesses, and increasing the competence of human resources based on sharia economics and finance.

To support the research and development of the halal industry, according to Ma'ruf, KNEKS and BRIN have created a National Research Framework program, which is expected to encourage innovation in the creation of highly competitive and sustainable sharia products and services.

"The acceleration of the halal industry needs to be supported by the active involvement of consumers who require efforts to improve literacy and public education. With this, it is hoped that the use of halal products will increase," he added.