Ahmad 
Hassan Sentisi Idrissi, president of the Moroccan Exporters Association, said that the mutual recognition between Russia and Morocco of the mark on halal products could create new horizons for Moroccan exporters and open new markets for Russian products and products of Islamic countries in Africa and the Arab world associated with Morocco.
Moscow considers the export of halal food products compliant with Islamic law a promising trend for Russian-African cooperation, as Morocco is among the attractive markets for such projects in light of its position as a convenient outlet to reach the African consumer in general.
Russian officials stress that Russia’s production of halal products has been witnessing a qualitative transformation and rapid growth in recent years.
Russian companies have exported multiple shipments of halal poultry meat to Islamic countries, and Russia is expanding the list of halal goods imported from Islamic countries to include sheep and beef meat that it has started selling in some neighboring countries.
Russian officials point out that the “Russia-Muslim World Forum: Kazan Forum 2024” will contribute to taking advantage of opportunities for joint work with Islamic countries, where guests of the forum, including experts and market participants, will discuss the development of the halal accreditation system in Russia and the mechanism of mutual recognition of products with Islamic countries, exchange of experiences and best practices in the field of halal infrastructure, as well as the formation of a modern system for training specialists in the halal industry.
Russia became one of the first non-Muslim countries to adopt its own standards for halal products, and Russian halal certificates were recognized in the African continent and the Gulf countries, which helps facilitate the supply of products from the Russian Federation to Bahrain, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Yemen, and to other countries in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.
Leading experts in the field of halal industries will highlight the opportunities that will be available to the markets of Islamic countries from 2024 on the fifteenth anniversary of the International Economic Forum “Russia-Islamic World: Kazan Forum”, which will be held in Kazan (Republic of Tatarstan, Russian Federation) from 14 to 19 May 2024.
As the halal industry is developing significantly in Russia and in the world in general, it has been included in the list of key topics at the annual Kazan Forum, which is held with the participation of the OIC countries and will be of particular importance on the margins of the next forum.
The volume of trade exchange between Russia and the 57-member OIC countries has witnessed significant growth in recent years, reaching $113.3 billion in 2021, an increase of 43.2 percent compared to 2017.
It is worth mentioning that the first national halal standards in Russia emerged as a result of the decision taken in 2017 within the framework of the Kazan Forum to establish a technical committee on the standardization of halal, and it is possible that the Kazan Forum 2024 will become a platform for making new decisions and concluding international agreements that will affect the development of the global market for halal products.