Latin America, and Brazil in particular, can stand to become a major partner in contributing to the growth of the global halal market, according to industry experts who gathered recently for the Global Business Forum on Latin America 2016 in Dubai.

Organised by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the high-level forum featured a panel session entitled Understanding the Potential of Halal Opportunities in the Islamic Economy, in which the speakers highlighted halal food and Islamic finance as mutual cooperation of cooperation between the Islamic world and Latin America.

During the discussion, Abdulla Mohammed Al Awar, Chief Executive Officer, Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre, said there are plenty of trade and investment opportunities in the halal market that can be explored between both regions.

There are rooms for affiliation and partnerships. The UAE is considered as an excellent hub for distribution to wider region. For South America it makes sense to ship and transport to this part of the world. This can be done through hub partnerships and ports in South America that can offer incentives, he explained.

However, he also highlighted a number of existing obstacles that limit the potential of businesses around the world to venture into halal products and services, including the lack of unified standards or marks, high costs and tedious approval processes.

Our goal is to work collectively to achieve harmonisation. There must be common grounds and there are 10 countries who have signed the Accreditation Halal Forum. It is important for trade. We are talking with trade members. If there are already members of this forum, then they dont have to go an extra step, which will further reduce cost, he added.

Mohamed El Zoghbi, President of the Federation of Muslim Association in Brazil (Fambras), spoke about the history of the halal food industry in Brazil, which dates back to 1970. The country has built strong relationships with GCC countries over the last decades, and is now currently one of the worlds biggest producers of halal meat.

He highlighted the rapid growth of halal industries in Brazil and said that the market stands to grow exponentially once the certifications system is standardised.

He also lauded partnerships between UAE companies and their Brazilian counterparts which paved the way for investments in agriculture. Investment is coming from UAE which is an extremely important market for us, adding that he hopes to see these efforts in other areas as well.
The UAE is a country where expertise goes beyond tourism to logistics and we need logistics. We need these partnerships between Brazil companies and UAE companies. Investment should happen from both the ends. This will reduce cost, El Zoghbi said.
El Zoghbi added that there is also an opportunity for knowledge transfer, as Brazil has invested a lot of money and resources into cutting edge agricultural technologies and innovation-focused projects.

Brazil has an agricultural policy that is very strong. We have become market leader because of this strong policy which was implemented years ago. In addition, we have this vision to allow for new partnerships, which is extremely important for us, Al Zoghbi said.
The inaugural Global Business Forum on Latin America, held at the Atlantis the Palm hotel in Dubai on November 9 and 10, 2016, is aimed at boosting bilateral ties between the UAE and the economies of Latin America.

More than 500 prominent stakeholders took part in the forum, including heads of state, policymakers, CEOs, business leaders, investors, and industry professionals, in addition to heads of private banks, sovereign wealth funds, and private equity firms.