The annual World Islamic Economic Forum opens in Dubai

LEAD IN Business delegates from across the Middle East and beyond are gathering in Dubai for the World Islamic Economic Forum this week. The forum is aiming to improve global growth opportunities for Islamic financial institutions and businesses across the region. STORYLINE Now in its tenth year, the World Islamic Economic Forum is opening in Dubai amid a positive mood in the Islamic finance industry. The three-day forum is focusing on a new theme: making Dubai the Islamic economic capital. The forum's chairman, Tun Musa Hitam, says that holding "this year's annual forum in Dubai symbolically indicates our best wishes and confidence of your success." Along with bankers and business owners, delegates include the leaders of several Muslim countries, including Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev. Islamic banking, which is banking that complies with Islamic principles, or Sharia, utilises strict rules: no collecting interest, no short selling and no contracts that are considered exceedingly risky. The Islamic finance industry is valued at over 1.2 trillion US dollars and is expected to grow, according to international audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. The firm has produced a report indicating that the sector is an increasingly important area of the global economy. Ashruff Jamall, a partner at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, says the industry is growing, but still needs to make some changes if it is to compete successfully with conventional banking. "Islamic Banks need to have more of a regional and global footprint relative to their conventional counterparts so a lot of customers like to deal with banks internationally in terms of their growing need across borders. So again that is something else that Islamic banks need to consider in terms of increasing their international and regional footprint," he says. But the Islamic economy is not all about banking. The Islamic Development Bank Group believes that other industries catering specifically to the global Muslim population can achieve greater success. Khaled Al-Aboodi, a member of the Islamic Development Bank Group and CEO of the Islamic Development Corporation, says service industries can also benefit from an Islamic aspect. "We have seen through the years, especially in this field, that there has been growing interest in the services provided (by Islamic banks), in particular Islamic finance and the Islamic economy in general, not just Islamic finance on its own. It is true that Islamic finance was and still is of huge interest, but there are also other services for customers such as Halal foods, such as staying in hotels that operate according to Muslim Sharia in terms of the services they provide," he says. "We have seen an interest in that, and that is thanks to the Dubai government, which wanted to be the Islamic economic capital of the world. We are going in the right direction because not everything needs to be simply about Islamic finance." The conference is being held at the Madinat Jumeirah resort until October 30. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/6af70696c3631d500a8ec80e5346ebeb Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork