Officials of the ASEAN Food and Beverage Alliance (AFBA) and the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry Brunei Darussalam (NCCIBD) met on Monday with representatives of Halal food regulatory authorities to discuss a mutual-recognition framework for the ASEAN food industry.
During the meeting, officials of the authority spoke about the mutual-recognition arrangements under way among the member states of Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
Meanwhile, representatives of AFBA and NCCIBD shared the progress ASEAN has made in this area, emphasizing that guidelines have been developed to form a mutual-recognition framework so as to facilitate trade in Halal products in the region.
AFBA and NCCIBD officials also held a meeting with representatives of the Food Safety and Quality Control division of the Ministry of Health to discuss AFBA's work on addressing trade barriers, particularly regarding nutrition labeling and product registration.
They all agreed that, with respect to nutrition labeling, ASEAN has begun to study possible areas for harmonizing procedures.
On product registration, FSQC officials noted that, because Brunei imports a large volume of goods from other countries, it is necessary to impose appropriate controls on imported food.
They said that, to facilitate import procedures, product registration must be done entirely online, and importers need flexibility in the requirements for submitting documents.
NCCIBD Vice President Malcolm Lim, NCCIBD Deputy Secretary-General Haji Abdul Halim bin Haji Saim, Brunei Malay Chamber of Commerce (DPPMB) Secretary-General Haji Abdul Rahman bin Haji Sirat, and representatives of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and AFBA attended both meetings.