CEO of Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) Dr. Hisham bin Saad Al-Jadhey has extended his thanks to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and the Crown Prince after the Cabinet"s approval of a memorandum of cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Morocco in recognizing Halal certificates for local products. Al-Jadhey stressed that this approval would contribute to developing classification procedures for Halal certificates, recognizing certificates issued by both countries, and promoting trade cooperation in Halal products. The Cabinet had previously approved a memorandum of cooperation in the field of mutual recognition of Halal certificates for local products issued by Morocco, represented by the Moroccan Standards Institute (IMANOR) of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Green and Digital Economy. The memorandum of cooperation was signed during a visit by a delegation from Saudi Arabia, including representatives of SFDA, to Morocco in October 2022. The delegation was headed by Dr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi, Minister of Commerce and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Authority for Foreign Trade, with the participation of officials from 14 government agencies, and representatives of 62 Saudi private sector companies. The agreement aims to enhance and develop cooperation in mutual recognition of Halal certificates for local products, as well as to develop the standards, technical regulations, and conformity assessment procedures for the issuance of Halal certificates, in addition to exchanging expertise and technical know-how in training, research and laboratory analysis of Halal products. The number of food establishments that have obtained the certificate of the Saudi Halal Center since 2019 until now has reached 213, while 55 agencies have obtained a certificate of issuance of Halal certificates and trade mark in 26 countries around the world, while the number of issues of Halal consignment certificates has reached more than 79,000 certificates. The Saudi Halal Center is working on 13 initiatives in the national strategy for Halal with the participation of relevant authorities that will contribute to consolidating the leading role of Saudi Arabia and its references in Halal economics, including the Global Halal Platform and the initiative to support local establishments by granting them Halal certification, and developing the control mechanism for donors and those approved by the center, in order to improve the level of control on establishments that export to the Kingdom. The Saudi Halal Center has also signed several agreements with Saudi universities to carry out research and development of Halal products, in addition to qualifying human personnel in the Halal sector around the world. — SPA