Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sent a video message for the 10th World Halal Summit on Wednesday.
In his message, Erdoğan stated the following:
"I warmly welcome all of you, my dear brothers and sisters, who have come to our beautiful city of Istanbul from our heartland. We are truly delighted to host you in this beautiful city, which our ancestors referred to as 'Darüssaade' (the abode of happiness). I pray to God that the 10th World Halal Summit and Halal Expo 2024 bring blessings to our countries and to the entire Islamic world.
The fact that halal-certified products and services are clean, healthy, and in line with religious sensitivities has contributed to the growth of this market, which exceeds a capacity of 5 trillion dollars. The World Halal Summit, which this year hosted over 1,000 companies and approximately 50,000 visitors from more than 110 countries, is considered the largest halal organization on the global stage. We believe that the debates during this summit, themed "10 Years of Halal Success: Uniting Vision, Shaping the Future," will open new horizons for companies, institutions, and consumers in the industry.
The business forums held during the summit will lead to the establishment of new partnerships and investments among participating companies. We are making steady progress on the path to turning our country, located at the heart of three continents, into a global production hub. Without distinguishing between domestic and foreign capital, we see it as our duty to support everyone working to activate the potential of the Turkish economy. With the establishment of the Halal Accreditation Agency, we have demonstrated the importance we place on this matter. Additionally, we have taken critical steps to protect consumer health by implementing various regulations in food safety.
We are diligently implementing the Turkish Food Codex, which we have organized in accordance with international food safety standards, to reduce health risks and ensure the safe consumption of food by society. On the other hand, with the increasing number of our control laboratories, we rigorously inspect food samples from chemical, microbiological, and physicochemical perspectives. Both the accessibility of halal-certified products and services for consumers and the facilitation of the international trade of halal products and services rely heavily on certification and standardization. For this reason, we place great importance on the activities of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Standards and Metrology Institute, which was established in 2010. I once again invite all member countries of the OIC to join the institute, thereby eliminating the discrepancies, disputes, and distrust in halal certification.
I congratulate our institutions that are leading this organization, which is held at a time when the need for clean, healthy, and reliable food is more felt than ever before."
