KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian halal entrepreneurs have been urged to participate in the upcoming Fieldays Expo 2022 in New Zealand to seek possible business tie-ups with the island country’s entrepreneurs to jointly manufacture and export halal products.
In making the call, New Zealand Malaysia Business Association (NZMBA) president Dave Ananth said Fieldays, the largest agricultural expo in the Southern Hemisphere held annually at Waikato, Hamilton District, provides many opportunities for halal businesses to expand.
NZMBA will facilitate Malaysian and New Zealand halal players for tie-ups at the expo, which will be held from June 15-18 next year .
“If we can expand New Zealand’s exports to include a wider range of halal goods to the Middle East and Southeast Asia, why not?
“There are huge opportunities for halal businesses to grow in a clean, green, COVID-19-free New Zealand.
“We are happy to look for local partners in the region to tie up with overseas investors, be it from Malaysia or the Middle East.
“We want an expo tent in Fieldays 2022 to showcase New Zealand’s halal exports. That is our focus,” he told Bernama through WhatsApp.
Commenting further, Ananth said for the first time, NZMBA was invited by Waikato Chamber of Commerce chief executive Don Good to attend the recent Fieldays Expo 2021 with other local dignitaries.
“The invitation, besides due to the close working relationship NZMBA has with the chamber, was to explore halal products for the intended halal expo at the same venue in 2022.
“There were more than 1,000 exhibitors this year but not many were from the halal industry,” he added.
Ananth said NZMBA will also be jointly working with MyFundAction New Zealand, a charitable organisation that strives to develop holistic youth leaders with Islamic values to solve global issues, to help New Zealand businesses expand their outreach to halal markets beyond their own shores.
Meanwhile, Good said the chamber fully supports NZMBA and is looking forward to collaborate with the halal industry players in the Waikato region and other Islamic countries.
“There are halal skincare and perfume products being manufactured in New Zealand. Come to us and the NZMBA, and we will tie the knots,” he added.
Meanwhile, NZMBA international marketing director Fahreen Azfy, who is based in both Dubai and New Zealand, said she can foresee many opportunities for the island country’s halal market in the Middle East, which has an increased demand for halal-certified products.
Asmuni Saharil, an entrepreneur in New Zealand who is involved in livestock farming, said with the assistance of NZMBA, he is now about to introduce New Zealand’s cattle and goats that have been specifically bred for tropical climates.
“I have been talking to Malaysian and Indonesian companies to export this livestock,” he said.
The director of human resource at a company in New Zealand said he plans to engage with FELDA and some state governments in Malaysia to seek collaboration in exporting livestock.
