Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is championing an agreement with Malaysia to streamline halal certification with the intent of growing New Zealand’s exports into a market full of demand.
He said there is “huge upside potential” for New Zealand in the agreement, which will give exporters “clearer, more consistent rules from registration and documentation to processing, labelling and storage”.
Halal means permissible or lawful in Arabic and can refer to products prepared or services conducted in a way aligned with Islamic teachings.
Premium halal meat products from New Zealand to Malaysia are currently worth about $60 million but it’s a billion-dollar market. With Malaysia heavily reliant on imports of meat, Luxon said easier access “helps our farmer industry”.
Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said this type of collaboration also unlocks more opportunity in the wider region. The Association of South-East Asia Nations (Asean) countries have a population of roughly 700 million people.
“This will be your new market and we would like to welcome any halal product from New Zealand,” he told attendees at an event in Kuala Lumpur today.
He said “halal is not just for Muslim, halal is for every religion”.
The so-called halal economy isn’t just limited to meat but also spans cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, ingredients and tourism.
Luxon said New Zealand’s “reputation for clean and green and ethical production aligns with halal values”.
“We see natural fits in halal certified cosmetics using New Zealand botanicals, specialty ingredients and nutraceuticals that are traceable from source, and medical consumables where reliability really matters.”
The agreement still needs to be ratified. Meanwhile, Malaysia is also progressing the approval of more halal meat facilities in New Zealand.
While there are currently accreditation processes, Luxon said that hasn’t always worked smoothly or consistently.
“[Exporters] don’t want to get in a situation where they’re sending product to Malaysia and somewhere it gets stopped on the border, because it hasn’t met a certain standard which someone’s interpreted differently,” Luxon told reporters. “We want just a common, simple set of interpretations and standards.”
Luxon met with Malaysian Prime Minister and Asean summit host Anwar Ibrahim. The New Zealand leader said the halal arrangement had been a priority for the pair.
As Luxon entered a conference room for their bilateral meeting, the Malaysian Prime Minister jokingly began shadow boxing him. Inside, he also mimed a haka with his arms.
“You might see some of that at lunch time,” Luxon said, referring to a performance by Te Kapa Haka o Ngāti Whakaue at a lunch later in the day.
New Zealand is also upgrading its overall relationship with the Asean bloc on the 50th anniversary of relations. Asean is our fourth-largest trading partner when considered as a group of countries, with two-way trade worth just under $30 billion.
The new Comprehensive Strategic Partnership will lead to biennial summits for leaders to “enable the exchange of ideas that drive change and development for us all”.
In remarks at an event to celebrate the occasion, Luxon said the last 50 years had been a “story of growth and development”.
“We now have two comprehensive regional Free Trade Agreements, in RCEP [Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership] and AANZFTA [Asean-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement], two-way trade of $29.3b every year, and we are signing a new Regional Air Services Agreement today. We trade in three days now what we did in all of 1975.”
He said Asean brought together “diverse states’ voices on issues that impact us all”.
“Dialogue is essential for enhancing understanding and bridging differences.”
Luxon will host a gala lunch later on Tuesday local time. When the Malaysian leader raised this during the forum, Luxon replied: “The faster we get there the better.”
The New Zealand Prime Minister leaves Malaysia early on Wednesday NZT and heads to South Korea for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit.
Jamie Ensor is a senior political reporter for NZ Herald travelling with the Prime Minister in Asia this week.