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Cover Story
@ Halal | July-August . 2021
BY FATIHAH MANAF
Good response
to MIHAS 2021
The world ’ s largest halal show returns this year with encouraging response from participants
THE MALAYSIA International Halal Showcase ( MIHAS ), the world ’ s biggest halal show , is an iconic event organised by the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation ( MATRADE ). However , last year ’ s unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic forced it to be postponed from April to September . Eventually , it had to be called off . Still , MATRADE CEO Mohd Mustafa Abdul Aziz is determined the show must go on this year .
“ Rain or shine , the show must go on . MIHAS cannot afford to be absent too long ,” he told @ Halal . MATRADE , the national trade promotion agency which organises MIHAS , comes under the Ministry of International Trade & Industry ( MITI ).
“ I think this is the right time . This year ’ s MIHAS will fully harness the power of virtual technology . The showcase will feature virtual exhibition , Artificial Intelligence ( AI ) assisted business matching sessions , virtual network lounge , industry specific sessions and live conferences to discuss export opportunities .”
The response to MIHAS 2021 has been encouraging .
“ We managed to attract nearly 400 virtual participants from both local and international exhibitors . Exhibitors from 22 countries have confirmed participation in MIHAS 2021 , including the Philippines , South Africa ,
Indonesia , South Korea , Japan and Thailand , among others . We believe we ’ ll be able to get more countries to participate ,” said Mohd Mustafa .
APEC virtual exhibition
He also gave updates on MATRADE ’ s eBizMatch programme , where Malaysian exporters are matched with foreign buyers identified by its 46 offices abroad .
“ When it took off , not all of us could really understand what the impact of this initiative would be . We had been promoting our products and services physically in international exhibitions and iconic events and through our missions .
“ But following the pandemic which affected the whole world , we promoted eBizMatch programmes . For 2020 , we organised 1365 eBizMatch sessions between 1115 Malaysian exporters and 703 foreign buyers across the globe .
“ The business meetings covered various categories of products such as food & beverages , rubber gloves , furniture , services and lifestyle products .
“ Then there was an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation ( APEC ) summit last year hosted by Malaysia . At first , we ’ re supposed to have it physically in Sabah .
“ When we could not , we started with our virtual exhibition . That was the first virtual exhibition organised in Malaysia during the pandemic , and we succeeded in putting up # MyAPEC2020 , which took place from Sept 1 to Dec 31 .”
He said it attracted 221 exhibitors from Malaysia and 53 exhibitors from 12 APEC economies . The accumulated sales were RM574.03 million , with a total of 308 eBiz- Match sessions .