The creation of an international halal food brand with substantial backing presents an exciting opportunity for our region’s primary production.

Last week council and the Sunraysia Mallee Economic Development Board signed two memoranda of understanding with the government of Brunei Darussalam and led local business in exhibiting local products at an international halal exhibition.

The opportunity came about after the Government of Brunei Darussalam sent a delegation to Mildura in March to investigate our region’s capacity to provide food products for processing as part of an internationally disturbed food product.

Brunei Darussalam is a small but prosperous sultanate of some 370,000 people located on the north of the island of Borneo.

The economy has historically depended on oil and gas exports and the Brunei Government is seeking opportunities to diversify its economic base.

One of the major initiatives being taken is a foray into food processing to provide quality halal food to a growing international market.

Similarly, spending on halal food worldwide is estimated to be growing by around 2 per cent a year. It is an opportunity businesses in our region are keen to ne involved in and council is keen to facilitate.

Because of our region’s reputation for premium food production, the Brunei Government has taken a lot of interest in our region, which heightened following visits to local food processors, growers and packers in March.

Significantly, throughout Asia local government is an important door opener and businesses that joined us on the delegation agreed they would not have had the access or made the contacts on the delegation without local government leading the way.

The challenge is now to ensure local businesses looking to supply the brand have the necessary halal accreditation and the Sunraysia Mallee Economic Development Board will be helping with this.

A pleasing aspect of the delegation has been the positive feedback from the business people who travelled to Brunei.

Sunraysia Daily. August 27, 2007.