Zafer GEDIKLI (GIMDES Technical Science Board Member)
We attended the H20 Conference and Expo held in Indonesia between October 9-10, 2024 as GIMDES. Our brother Zafer GEDIKLI participated on our behalf.
We met with the President of Indonesian Halal Accreditation Agency BPJPH, Muhammad Aqil Irham, and other executives one-on-one and reminded them that the GIMDES audit had been completed in the past weeks and requested the official completion of the recognition process. Since there were no deficiencies/deficiency issues based on the checks they made, we signed a mutual recognition agreement valid for 4 years at the meeting held on October 10, 2024. Thus, GIMDES became the first and only Halal certification institution recognized by BJPH in Turkey.
During the visit, we toured the food fair, the third of which was held under the leadership of BPJPH. A separate section was opened for Halal certified companies at this fair. Although the fair was spread over a large area of 6 halls, the Halal section was relatively small and there were only a few companies. Unfortunately, there were a few stands displaying alcoholic beverages in other parts of the fair.
It was explained at the conference that Indonesia officially accepted the policy of being a central country for Halal products and services and that state institutions supported this initiative. It was said that the reason for this was that Indonesia was home to the largest Muslim community in the world. Indonesia decided to lead not only in food but also in fashion and other areas. For this purpose, it was stated that textile and clothing products were designed under the name “Modest Fashion” and that they had participated in fashion shows in famous fashion centers such as Paris and Milan since 2024 and had started to introduce Indonesian fashion to the world. It was said that these products (dresses, shoes, jewelry, etc.) would also be Halal certified.
In a presentation made by BPJPH, it was stated that this institution, which was established in 2018, has completed its infancy and has now gained a strong and reputable institution identity, and that while only around 500,000 products were certified in the first 3 years, this number has reached around 6,500,000 in the last 3 years, and that the certification process, which used to be 1 year, has now decreased to around 20 days; and the target is 8-12 days. Thus, they are planning to certify all companies nationwide in the medium term.
When we met with BPJPH in 2019, it was said that if the current certification rate continues, the certification process of businesses in the country will take around 100 years. Now, BPJPH has both increased the number of inspectors and started to issue certificates rapidly by accelerating the processes.
Indonesia’s unique difficulty is that the country consists of thousands of islands and transportation is only possible by sea or air. In addition, the fact that a large portion of the producers are small businesses (with 5-10 employees) is another difficulty. In this case, it is very difficult to supervise and control millions of companies in a scattered geography. Indonesia already supplies many products, both finished and semi-finished, from abroad. Due to this external dependency, the country’s industry cannot develop.
