The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) aims to become a hub for the halal industry in Southeast Asia.
The autonomous government plans to achieve this through foreign investments from Muslim countries.
“We are partnering with some companies in the halal industry, especially from Malaysia and Middle Eastern countries,” said Murad Ebrahim, Chief Minister of BARMM, in an interview with Nikkei in Tokyo.
“We need to partner with countries already engaged in the halal industry,” he added.
The regional government will be formally established next year following a parliamentary election in May.
In addition to efforts to develop agriculture, fisheries, and the extraction of natural gas and copper, the transitional authority has been promoting the halal poultry-processing industry, expecting to boost jobs and exports to the Middle East, Ebrahim said.
Ebrahim mentioned that while factories are still under construction, more than 50 companies have either invested in the region or expressed interest in doing so.
“We aspire to reach at least a hundred companies,” he said.
