Organizing committee chairwoman Rifda Ammarina said so far 130 firms had confirmed stands at the expo scheduled to take place from July 23 to 25 at the Jakarta Convention Center Assembly Hall.

“The participants comprise a variety of businesses, such as food, drinks, cosmetics, packaging, syariah banking and insurance, and [some are] international participants,” she said Wednesday.

“Of the 13 countries we invited, only the United States and Malaysia have confirmed their attendance.”

Lukmanul Hakim, the executive director of the Cosmetics and Drugs Monitoring Institution at the MUI, said the council had also invited 39 halal institutions from the US, Africa, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand.

“There will be an international meeting on halal standards,” he said.

“We also plan to declare the International Halal Standard and the standard will mostly refer to Indonesia because we have the biggest Muslim population,” he said.

Rifda said the organizer had not set a sales target, since the event would be the first of its kind in Indonesia.

However, internationally, halal product transactions were worth around US$632 million a year, she said. — JP

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