Groundbreaking discussion at the closure of the Global Islamic Investment Gateway

Middle East Business News & Magazine is Media Partner at:

Groundbreaking discussion at the closure of the Global Islamic Investment Gateway

Manama, Bahrain:  The Global Islamic Investment Gateway (GIIG) forum, held in the Kingdom of Bahrain, concluded today after 2 days of hosting key debates on the economics and investment potential of the Islamic markets.

Attendees included representatives from both the public and private sectors and from a wide range of international markets.  The second day sessions focused on key economic and investment areas, such as: funding the growth and development of the Islamic markets, fundamental shifts in the energy sector and the challenges of diversifying economies during the period of declining oil prices.

H.E. Rasheed Al Maraj, Governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain, yesterday delivered the welcome address and focused on the Kingdom leadership in setting the standards for Islamic finance regulations.

Dr.Jarmo Kotilaine, Chief Economist at the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB), who are co-organising GIIG,said:  “The event was successful in connecting investors with real investment opportunities within the OIC markets. Investors look to operate in an environment which offers them a well-educated and highly-skilled workforce, along with competitive operating costs, both of which represent some of Bahrain’s key strengths, along with its ideal location in which regional markets can be accessed”.

Commenting on the region’s investment potential, Dr Sayd Farook, Global Head of Islamic Capital Markets at Thomson Reuters, said: “Today we launched the 2015 Islamic Growth Markets Investment Report which presents a new view of looking at investment opportunities across the OIC growing markets. The report and the Investment Monitor provide the opportunity for investors to access real international opportunities.”

The Report presents DinarStandard’s OIC Industry Clusters Model that is a sector based investment strategy.  It identifies unique region-wide roll-up, carve-out, growth, operation-value-creation and alliance opportunities across a sector’s value chain.   The top OIC sector clusters identified are:  Energy, Food & Agriculture, Electronics, Travel & Transportation, Metals, Chemical & Allied, Plastics/Rubber, Textiles & related, Infrastructure & Construction, and Health Products & Services.  The opportunities cover greenfield project investments as well in fast maturing domestic companies across these sectors.

The GIIG is organised by Thomson Reuters, the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB), and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB).

The event featured 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.   It also covered all major investment sectors, driven by the opportunities presented by the investment development agencies and investment originators.