WIEF Will Stay The Course In Islamic Economic Development

By Muin Abdul Majid

Many international fora and initiatives have been established with the noblest of intentions only to falter along the way. But the the World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF), which is holding its fourth gathering in Kuwait, refuses to go down that road as it seeks to boost business and investment linkages among Muslim countries.

"We're not merely another talk shop as commonly found in quite a number of fora like the one we're conducting as we're focusing on specific subjects that are of specialised nature," WIEF chairman Tun Musa Hitam told Malaysian journalists ahead of the April 29-May 1 event.

He disclosed that after Kuwait, the WIEF will have its own secretariat in Kuala Lumpur with efforts currently underway to recruit its Malaysian as well as international staff.

The former Malaysian deputy prime minister seemed pleased with the buzz the WIEF is generating since its establishment in 2005 which was spearheaded by Malaysia, then at the helm of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

"Since then, it has caught fire in a manner of speaking. It has attracted so much attention. More and more countries are hearing about it and more countries are keen to host the annual forum," he said.

The inaugural WIEF meeting was hosted by Malaysia in 2005 followed by Pakistan the following year and back to Malaysia in 2007 before coming this year to Kuwait, the first Middle East country to host the event with the theme "Islamic Countries: Partners in the Global Development".

The Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, will deliver the keynote opening address at Bayan Palace tomorrow before an audience of several heads of states and governments as well as government officials, eminent thinkers and key players from the Muslim business community.

"They (government leaders) will have the opportunity to air their views. This would form the backdrop against which they will interact and make decisions relating to business opportunities in their respective countries and how they could tie up in order to establish win-win relationships," Musa said.

Malaysia is expected to be represented in Kuwait by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

According to Musa, the choice of Kuwait as the venue for this year's forum is significant as it is one of the economic success stories in the Middle East, especially in the fields of energy and finance.

"We in Malaysia have had a long relationship with Kuwaiti financial institutions which have played played quite a role in a number of projects in Malaysia," he said.

The WIEF Young Leaders meeting, WIEF Businesswomen Forum and a session on development and finance in the Islamic world will also be conducted ahead of the Kuwait WIEF meeting.

Musa said they would focus on projects that they have embarked on and may announce other initiatives during their meetings here, particularly within the context of education and training.

From Kuwait, he said the WIEF forum will travel to the Indonesian capital Jakarta next year.

"We already have an invitation by the President of Indonesia (Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono) and this matter will be formalised in Kuwait," he said.

He expected the WIEF in Jakarta to focus on the role of small and medium enterprises in efforts to enhance economic development in Muslim countries.

"We do believe that in the context of the level of business development in the Muslim world, the approach should be from the bottom up rather than the other way round," Musa said.

"We do have (big enterprises) but not as many as we would like to see. So to encourage the formation of bigger enterprises, we must start at the medium and lower levels," he said.

In addition, Musa said, the private sector should take up the responsibility in ensuring the success of WIEF initiatives.

"We have to depend less and less on government. We need to have our own initiatives," he said.

"We would like to showcase ourselves to the world that the word Islam is not associated with anything negative in our case but is associated with a grouping of institutions, personalities and people who are keen to do business."

Musa said this will eventually benefit not only the business people but also the Muslim ummah as a whole because once businesses make profits, the impact will also be felt by other levels of society.