On the margins of the summit, the Zagreb-based Centre for Halal Quality Certification and the Singapore-based "Pure and Good Management" company signed an agreement on cooperation, which paves the way for Croatian companies' arrival at the halal market of southeast Asia and China.
The Zagreb-based centre's head, Aldin Dugonjic, also held a lecture on health tourism as part of halal tourism and outlined Croatia's services in that sector.
On Saturday, Croatian-Turkish business-to-business meetings were organised in Istanbul by the Centre, the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK), the Turkish Economy Ministry, and the Discover Events company.
Croatia - regional leader in halal certification
In mid-September, the 100th halal certificate in Croatia was presented to the Ljekovito Bilje family company, making Croatia the regional leader in halal certification, and on that occasion a cooperation agreement was signed between the Islamic Community in Croatia and the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK).
It is important that Croatia is part of the global halal trend, no longer just a matter of faith and way of life but health too, which is being increasingly recognised in non-Islamic countries, said Eugene Levterov, general manager of MHP Food Trading LLC from Dubai, a distributor which promotes, inspects and sells halal products.
Halal certificates have been awarded in Croatia since 2010 by the Islamic Centre's halal certification centre, whose head, Dugonjic, said at that ceremony that the global halal market was estimated at US$ 2 trillion.
"In Croatia we see an increase in interest in certification and our analysis shows that 49% of the companies which are halal certified have increased their exports and profits. There's still a lot of development potential and we hope the agreement with the HGK will contribute to that," he said.
Dugonjic said 66 food producers, 18 hotels, seven travel agencies, one catering company and one elementary school in Croatia had been awarded halal certificates and that negotiations were under way with several more.
The head of the Islamic Community in Croatia, Aziz Hasanovic, said the 100th halal certificate in Croatia was important and underlined the good cooperation between the Islamic Centre Zagreb and the HGK in opening new markets and facilitating deals for Croatian companies.