Boediono said that halal product is a strategic issue in the Muslim world particularly in Indonesia whose Muslim population was the largest in the world.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Vice President Boediono hoped that the application of `halal` certification would not burden consumers because there were many people in society who still had small incomes.

"I also hope that the standardization would be assessed so that it would not burden consumers. This is important because some of the consumers are Muslims whose incomes are still small," the vice president said when he opened the annual meeting of the World Halal Food Council here on Monday.

Boediono said that halal product is a strategic issue in the Muslim world particularly in Indonesia whose Muslim population was the largest in the world.

Indonesia has a Muslim population of 200 million or equal to the populations of six Muslim countries of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Malaysia and Turkey.

"You can imagine how large the volumes of food and drink goods and other products such as medicines and cosmetics circulating and being consumed by the people in Indonesia," the vice president said.

Boediono also hoped that polices on the supervision and popularization of halal products would continue to be made and applied so that a common halal standard applicable all over the world could be produced.

The vice president expressed his support to the dialog among stakeholders in the annual meeting so that they would be able to create a halal product standardization.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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