Mariecar Jara-Puyod, Senior Reporter

Part of its thrust to participate actively in global food security and continually increase its presence in the rapidly growing halal food industry, the Philippines returns and will be at the silver anniversary edition of  Gulfood from Feb. 16 to 20 at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

The repeat participation of the Philippines  is also part of Manila’s strategy to make its presence felt as the UAE is gearing up towards Expo2020 Dubai this October.

Under the established “FoodPhilippines” branding, 26 companies from the Philippines’s halal and organic sectors, some of them having been repeat participants through the years have been in Dubai since last week. All have been halal-certified. Some bear additional relevant certifications like the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points, US Food and Drug Administration, Kosher and Organic.  

These, apart from the 11 companies which have been in other parts of the region from Feb. 12 for Manila’s Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)-Export Marketing Bureau/Philippine Trade and Investment Centre-Middle East and Africa “Outbound Business Matching Mission to the Middle East, until Feb. 24.

The 11 are also dropping by at Gulfood 2020.

Delegation head for both initiatives is DTI-Trade Promotions Group Undersecretary Abdulgani Macatoman.

Macatoman told Gulf Today: “We need more Philippine brands to enter the Middle East markets to cater the demand not only of the Filipinos but to a larger extent in order for us to penetrate the mainstream market.”

“We aim to capture a larger portion of the continuously growing global halal market and capitalize on the significant business potentials of its (the Philippines’s) burgeoning local halal industry,” he also said.