Annual meeting of World Halal Council held in Japan, new president elected

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The 14th Annual General Meeting of World Halal Council in Tokyo
Report by: MOHAMMAD Zubair

The 14th Annual General Meeting of World Halal Council was conducted in Chiba City of Japan in November 2016.

The most important annual meeting of World’s renown Halal certifiers is the annual general meeting, and traditionally different certifiers host the event each year. This year in 2016, NAHA, the Nippon Halal Association, volunteered and held the event which took place at Hotel Springs Makuhari.

The importance of this annual general meeting was an election of new executive posts of the World Halal Council. The following members of WHC were elected to designated posts:

President                                Zafer Gedikli
Vice President                        Habib Ghanim
Secretary General                   Abdulrahman Linzag
Assistant Sec. Gen                  Samat Sadykov
Treasurer                               Ehsan Sairelly
Assistant Treasure                  Dinar Sadykov
Executive Committee             Thafier Najjar, Ibrahim Liu, Badreddin Hawari

 WHC president Zafer Dedikli

After the elections, newly elected President Zafer Gedikli gave a short speech of gratitude to all of the members, audience and former President Shaikh Najjar for his services to World Halal Council.

“World Halal Council is a stronger entity and with the new management in power, the council will be the true voice of Halal and WHC will be the most respected umbrella organization around the world”, Mr. Gedikli said in his inaugural address.

Members of World Halal Council after the election

World Halal Council Patron Dr. Buyukozer sent a message to the annual general meeting, which was read to the audience.  In the message, Dr. Buyukozer stressed the importance of unity of standards as well as the quality of Halal certifying. According to Dr. Buyukozer, Halal certifying should be considered as a means to serve the Ummah, not as a business to make money.

Speaking to the News Halal after taking as a top office bearer of World Halal Council, Mr. Gedikli stressed the need to unify efforts and collaboration among Halal Certifying bodies around the world.

In view of accreditation of Halal Certifying bodies by the government of Dubai and the United Arab Emirates, some participants raises concerns whether the World Halal Council will be able to make sure its own status as an internationally recognized Halal Council. Recently government related authorities in the number of countries started accrediting Halal Certifying bodies. The recognition such as accreditation cost huge amount for funds making it almost impossible for medium and smaller Halal Certifiers who are serving the Muslim communities and industries for decades.