KARACHI - Speaker National Assembly Dr Fahmida Mirza has said that Pakistan must enter into over $2 trillion global Halal economy due to its unique geo-economic position in the region and in the Muslim world. She was speaking at the inaugural session of Global Halal Congress titled Discover Pakistans Halal Potential organised by Halal Development Council in collaboration with Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) at a local hotel here on Saturday. Addressing the session she said that the authorities of TDAP are drafting up Halal Certification Bill with an aim to give a better exposure to Pakistans exports toward one-third of the worlds population, which is a big consumer market of Halal products and services. Once the drafting of the said Bill in consultation with all stakeholders get completed by TDAP, it would be tabled before the National Assembly to make it into law, she said. It must be mentioned here that Halal certification means ones product is meeting a high quality assurance standard, giving a product an international brand whether it is pharmaceuticals, vitamins and cosmetics and food or non-food items. To a query about the imposition of Reformed General Sales Tax, she said the democratic government of Pakistan Peoples Party is not in favour of putting excessive taxation burden on the general public and on the business community. She further said that the government is doing its best to broaden the tax net and to bring down the rate of inflation into single digit in order to cope with the existing economic challenges. Meanwhile, Speaker Sindh Assembly and Acting Governor Sindh Nisar Khoro said that the Halal Congress was a better platform to explore the hidden and open commercial opportunities among Muslim and non-Muslim world. Earlier, Asad Sajjad Secretary General/CEO Halal Development Council in his welcome address said Halal being a trillion dollar market globally and the Halal Brand recognized as symbol of 'Good Quality Product, so non-Muslim also buy products with the Halal Logo. He said the Halal market economy includes all type of Food and its ingredients, all type of beverages, personal care & cosmetics, pharmaceutical, neutracuticals and herbal, Islamic fashion and leather products, Halal tourism and hospitality, Halal product supply chain including auditing, logistics, security & warehousing, a lot of miscellaneous products and finally Halal Industrial Development including specialized Halal Export Zones. He informed that despite being a big Muslim country, Pakistan is not known to the world as a supplier of Certified Halal products and thus our share in this trillion dollar global Halal business is negligible. Pakistans strength is a 100 per cent Halal production base from a Muslim country, with over 170 million consumers in Pakistan and a direct access to a grand total of 470 million Halal consumers in Afghanistan, Central Asia and Middle East. This has to be propagated to the Halal agenda promoters globally to strategise how to take advantage of Pakistans strength for the development of Halal trade in Pakistan, the OIC countries and the world, he revealed. Global Halal Congress is our first initiative in Pakistan. It is an international conference of national importance on Halal Business, with an aim to provide up-to-date information about Pakistani Halal market, discuss issues facing the global Halal industry and to introduce Pakistan as a major supplier of Halal products to the leading Halal industry experts, global Halal agenda promoters and international Halal certifiers, he mentioned. We hope that the Congress will help the business professionals from food, beverages, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, tourism, banking and insurance to identify the Halal trade, investment and joint venture opportunities in Pakistan, he added.