Six leading Pakistani food and beverage companies are attending the 10th edition of Malaysian International Halal Showcase (MIHAS) 2013 which started on Wednesday in Kuala Lumpur.

The four-day international trade fair being organized by the Ministry of International Trade & Industry (MITI) Malaysia has brought together the largest community of international halal players on a single platform to facilitate trading of halal certified goods and services.

The last year edition of MIHAS 2012 saw an active participation of 401 exhibitors from 32 countries and attracted 16,096 quality visitors from 70 countries, according to a statement received here on Wednesday.

Pakistan High Commissioner to Malaysia, Shahid Masroor Gul Kiani who visited the pavilions set up by the participating Pakistani companies welcomed their initiative to be part of an international event which would help them explore Halal market in Malaysia and harness the synergies existing in the sector.

He said Pakistani companies had already participated in the previous edition of MIHAS and had benefitted from their interaction with participating companies from other countries.

He said there was a considerable scope for the export of Pakistani food products such as rice, fruits and vegetables to the Malaysian market where Pakistani products for their better quality and competitive prices were becoming popular with the buyers.

Shahid Kiani said Pakistan produced the best quality rice and it was not only the 12th largest producer of rice but also the 4th largest exporter of rice yielding US $2.5 billion exports for the country only last year.

"Pakistan has fully liberalized the import and export of rice which should allow the Malaysian importers greater ease to import more Pakistani rice to Malaysia to meet its domestic requirement of 1 million MT of rice," he said. He also urged the Malaysian government to consider importing processed Pakistani meat, especially beef and chicken, to meet its domestic requirements.

He also advocated for greater penetration of Pakistani mangoes in the Malaysian market given the fact that Pakistani mangoes were accorded preferential market access.

under the FTA between Pakistan and Malaysia, and were available in Pakistan in processed form after the installation of two mango-pulp plants in Pakistan for production of better-quality end-products.