YAB Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak, the Prime Minister of Malaysia officiated the International Halal Showcase (MIHAS) 2010 on 23 June at MATRADE in Kuala Lumpur. More than 1,000 delegates including foreign dignitaries, trade buyers, exhibitors, trade association representatives and international visitors attended the opening ceremony. In his speech, the Prime Minister announced the launch of two new halal standards, namely, Standards on Halal Cosmetics, MS 2200:2008; and Standards on Halal logistics, MS 2400:2010, which marked another milestone for Malaysia in the development of halal benchmarking.

Earlier during the ceremony, YB Dato’ Sri Mustapa Mohamed, Minister of International Trade and Industry gave the opening remarks. He noted that the composition of products exhibited in MIHAS has developed over the years, branching out from mainly food to cosmetics; toiletries; pharmaceuticals; food packaging and machinery; logistics; and Islamic financial services.

In its 7 th year, MIHAS, the international trade fair with the largest …..congregation of halal industry players, is organised by MATRADE with the sole aim of facilitating the sourcing and trading of halal products and services. As the world’s largest halal exhibition, MIHAS has attracted loyal visitors and exhibitors, both locally as well as abroad. MIHAS embraces the halal concept in all its dimensions ranging from pharmaceuticals; herbal products; cosmetics; packaging and healthcare; to Islamic investment; banking; and takaful.

A total of 527 companies took up 661 booths at MIHAS 2010. This includes 457 booths taken up by 364 local companies and 202 booths by 163 international companies. Excluding Malaysia, 31 countries participated in this year’s event. The top 5 participating countries are China, Iran, Singapore, Indonesia and Pakistan.

In-conjunction with MIHAS, MATRADE also organised the Incoming Buying Mission (IBM) from 21 – 22 June 2010. A total of 6,637 one-to-one business meetings were held, involving 510 international buyers from 409 companies and 969 Malaysian companies. The IBM is an integral component of MIHAS 2010, which acts as a platform for Malaysian exporters to meet with potential buyers face-to-face and identify new business alliances.

For more information on MIHAS, please visit www.halal.com.my. Malaysian exporters and foreign buyers can also contact MATRADE at 03 – 6207 7077, email info@matrade.gov.my or visit www.matrade.gov.my for details on the latest trade promotion programmes and activities.