Saudi Arabia and Malaysia have signed a deal on mutual recognition of halal certificate for the locally-produced items.

The agreement signed by The Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) CEO, Hisham bin Saad Al-Jadhey and Jakim Director General, Hakima Yusuf aims to standardize halal standards due to variances in specifications, with over 400 certificates worldwide.

It also includes areas of cooperation on conformity assessment procedures, standard specifications, regulations for issuing halal certificates, and knowledge exchange in training, research and laboratory analysis of halal products.

Al-Jadhey emphasized the importance of establishing a regulatory framework to improve the dependability of halal products for Muslims worldwide.

He said the Saudi Halal Center has been working for several years to establish a framework for a uniform international halal certification system, citing the signing of a memorandum of cooperation in this regard between the Kingdom and Morocco in October last year.