KUCHING, Oct 7: Sarawak food products have a strong value proposition which resonates well with the European buyers.
Minister of International Trade and Industry, Industrial Terminal and Entrepreneur Development (MINTRED) Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan highlighted this in an exclusive interview when attending the ANUGA 2019 trade fair in Cologne, Germany recently.
He emphasised that the growing popularity of Halal products also offered opportunities for Sarawak companies to reach out to the buyers in Europe who were constantly looking for Halal products to cater to the growing Muslim population living in Europe.
“It is for this reason Sarawak is developing the whole value chain of Halal industry because Sarawak has huge land mass that can cater for upstream, midstream and downstream business activities,” he said.
“Our initiatives to develop the food industry will help the world to feed 10 billion people in the future,” he added.
Awang Tengah, who is also Deputy Chief Minster, pointed out that Sarawak’s focus on precision farming and biotechnology will also provide innovative solutions for the current challenges of the industry, because themes like sustainability, environmental as well as climate protection have to be reconciled with the wishes of the customers.
MINTRED was spearheading Sarawakian companies’ presence in ANUGA 2019 trade fair as an effort to promote local innovative food and beverage (F&B) products to the European market.
Three Sarawakian companies were among some 50 Malaysian companies participating in the five-day ANUGA trade fair, which opening ceremony was officiated by German Minister for Food and Agriculture Julia Klöckner last Saturday (Oct 5).
Awang Tengah also encouraged more Sarawakian companies to join the event in the future.
MINTRED was collaborating closely with Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) to initiate continuous promotion in the region in order to expand Sarawak manufacturers’ presence in the European Union (EU).
During the opening ceremony, Klöckner emphasised that the trade fair provides answers to the questions on the future of food.
“It is about appreciation for the work of those who are ensuring that safe and high-quality foodstuffs are finding their way into our shopping baskets and onto our plates,” she said.
“Appreciation presupposes knowledge in advance – in this connection, ANUGA has been an excellent platform for a century,” she added.
ANUGA (Allgemeine Nahrungs Und Genußmittel Ausstellung) is German Universal and Beverage Exhibition and is the world’s leading, large scale trade fair and one of the most important meeting points of the food and beverage industry that offers the best opportunities to network worldwide.
This year, ANUGA celebrated its 100 years anniversary.
With around 7,500 exhibitors from 106 countries, ANUGA 2019 once again set a new record number of exhibitors.
The Sarawak delegation comprises MINTRED Assistant Minister Datuk Mohd Naroden Majais, Ministry’s Permanent Secretary Datu Liaw Soon Eng and other senior officials namely Kameri Affandi, Lester Matthew and Zukkarnain Rosli.
Accompanying them were Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) Investment Consul, Frankfurt, Yusri Hasnan Chu Abu Bakar and MATRADE Sarawak director Leany Mokhtar.— DayakDaily
