Manama: Over 300 experts and delegates who attended the opening day of the 1st Global Islamic Investment Gateway (GIIG) Forum deliberated upon the challenges and opportunities faced by the $6.7trillion OIC economies.
Attendees included representatives from the public and private sectors and from a wide range of international markets.
The first day’s panel sessions focused on the impact of a number of global trends on opportunities in the $6.7 trillion OIC market and on the long term economic fundamentals within those economies.
Dr. Ahmed Al Madani, President of the Islamic Development Bank Group delivered the welcome address and focused on the potential of the emerging Islamic markets and the increasing appetite of the international investors towards opportunities in OIC markets.
“The increasing young population of the OIC markets represents an opportunity for international investors to benefit from growing demand in a range of sectors, including infrastructure developments, education, and food and agriculture. These opportunities exist at different points in value chains,” Dr. Jarmo Kotilaine, Chief Economist at the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) said.
“Conferences such as the GIIG provide an excellent opportunity to connect capital with real investment opportunities.”
“The aim for this event is to give investors access to potential opportunities in high growth Islamic markets. The second day of the event will feature launching the 2015 Islamic Growth Markets Investment Report which will identify specific investment clusters within OIC markets where there is strong potential for growth,” Dr Sayd Farook, Global Head of Islamic Capital Markets, Thomson Reuters, said.
The event on Tuesday will see the launch of the Thomson Reuters Investment Monitor, an online portal which will collate international investment opportunities – opportunities that have been refined with the help of Thomson Reuters’ internal specialists and which are designed to be within a fortnight of being ready to go to companies’ investment committees for approval.
The Global Islamic Investment Gateway is organised by Thomson Reuters, the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB).
The event features over 80 countries including more than 30 OIC countries, split into the key regional sectors including GCC, MENA, CIS, South East Asia, South Asia, West Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa and covers all major investment sectors, driven by the opportunities presented by the investment development agencies and investment originators.