Manila eyes $4bn investment into the sector in the next 5 years Strategy aims at making Filipino enterprises part of the global halal ecosystem MANILA: The Philippines aims to tap into the global halal market, the Department of Trade and Industry said on Friday, as it seeks to create 120,000 new jobs in the next five years. The predominantly Catholic Philippines has been lately looking to expand the market presence of its halal-certified products not only in the Middle East, but also in neighboring Muslim-majority Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. With the world’s Muslim population at about 1.8 billion people, the global halal market is estimated to be worth more than $7 trillion. A third of it is contributed by the halal food and beverage industry, but the market also covers recreation, travel, financial services, fashion, and many other sectors. The DTI announced the Philippine Halal Development Plan in April, in accordance with the Halal Export Development and Promotion Act passed in 2016. The strategy will aim at making micro, small and medium Filipino enterprises a part of the global halal ecosystem by the end of this year, and over the next five years “achieve 230 billion ($4 billion) Philippine pesos halal trade and investments, and generate 120,000 jobs,” the DTI said in a statement on Thursday evening. “We are just now implementing it,” DTI Secretary Alfredo Pascual told Arab News. “There are already halal producers in the Philippines but now we want to be able to go global and be able to tap the more than $7 trillion halal market globally.” The department is going to lead an inter-agency task force to position the Philippines as the “most halal-friendly trade and investment hub in Asia Pacific.” The task force will include representatives from the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos, the Philippine central bank, and the departments of agriculture, tourism, health, science and technology, and foreign affairs. It will also involve the Mindanao Development Authority — the state agency promoting the welfare and development of the Mindanao region, which is one of the country’s poorest areas and home to the majority of about 7 million Philippine Muslims. Pascual said that with the new strategy, the Philippines will be able to make the halal sector a major player and tap into foreign markets, making local enterprises “able to participate in the industry and contribute to the economic development of the country, particularly in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.”