GSO Participates in the 12th International Economic Summit in Russia
GCC Standardization Organization (GSO) participated in the 12th International Economic Summit “Russia – Islamic World: Kazan Summit 2021”, which was launched in Kazan, during the period from 28 to 30 July 2021. The Summit has been held under the patronage of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan
with the participation of the Secretary-General of the Islamic Chamber of Trade, Industry and Agriculture of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and a number of their Excellencies, Ministers, representatives of governments, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, senior officials, businessmen, representatives of companies, heads of organizations, international experts and specialists; The summit was accompanied by the launch of the “Halal Expo Russia” exhibition for halal products, with a large participation of food companies working in this field in Russia.
Kazan Summit 2021 addressed many topics of the business program, among the key topics – Islamic finance and partner banking, the halal industry, youth diplomacy, export development, entrepreneurship and investment.
In the opening session, His Excellency Mr. Saud bin Nasser Al-Khusaibi, President of the GCC Standardization Organization (GSO), delivered a presentation in which he introduced the GSO’s tasks and activities in supporting the Gulf economy and raising its efficiency and competitiveness, facilitating trade exchange, protection of consumer, environment, and public health, to achieve the requirements of the customs union and the Gulf common market, by unifying standardization activities and following up on their implementation in cooperation and coordination with the GCC Member States. In his presentation, Mr. AlKuhusaibi, emphasizes the importance of Kazan Summit in raising awareness of halal, strengthening of commercial and cultural ties between the Islamic world and the Russian Federation.
In the first main session “Halal Industry – Experiences and Perspective”, GSO explained the Gulf Halal system based on the unification of standards and requirements for halal certificates, and the requirements for the accreditation of halal certification bodies, leading to mutual recognition, in cooperation and coordination with the relevant authorities”. Mr. Alkhusaibi highlighted the importance of halal industry according to international reports that reflect the size of this sector, which is expected to reach $3.2 trillion by 2027, as it currently covers many sectors besides the food sector, including important sectors such as travel, tourism, cosmetics, medicine, banking, textiles… and others, which makes it as one of the most important pillars of the Islamic economy. Mr. Alkhusaibi said that GSO issued more than (1794) unified Gulf standards and technical regulations in the food sector: (1172) voluntary standards and (622) mandatory technical regulations. It also issued more than (15) standards in the halal sector. The Gulf Technical Committee for Food and Agricultural Products and the Gulf Technical Committee for Halal were established with the representativeness of all GSO Member States.
Moreover, GSO participated in the second main halal session “The Unification Track – National Halal standard Framework in the Islamic World”, and the third main halal session “Round Table Dialogue – Approval of Halal Certification Bodies in the Islamic World and the Russian Federation”. In both sessions, GSO stressed the importance of integrated efforts to bridge the gap and unify the purpose and scheme for halal at the level of the Islamic world with a clear plan, which positively contributes enhancing consumers and investors’ trust in the halal sector, facilitating understanding the system, shortening time and effort, and avoiding conflict of interest among the relevant authorities.
On the sidelines of the summit, GSO held several bilateral meetings with many participating delegations and concluded it with an official visit to the Federal Agency on Technical Regulating and Metrology, Russian Federation, during which both organizations discussed areas of cooperation to enhance the standardization activities towards facilitating the trade exchange between GCC Member States and Russian Federation.
It is worth noting that the International Economic Summit “Russia-Islamic World: Kazan Summit” has been held regularly every year since 2009, under the auspices of the Presidency of the Republic of Tatarstan, with the support of the Russian Federation Council. The main goal of the Summit is to strengthen trade, economic, scientific, technical, social and cultural ties between the regions of the Russian Federation and the countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
