Indonesia to host 5th World Islamic Economic Forum

The Jakarta Post | Tue, 10/21/2008 8:54 PM  

Indonesia is scheduled to host the 5th World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF) in March next year, heralding a theme of "Food and Energy Security & Stemming the Tide of the Global Financial Crisis", an official said. 

An MOU for the event was signed on Monday by former Malaysian deputy prime minister and WIEF board of trustees chairman, Tun Musa Hitam, and (Indonesian) State Minister for State Enterprises Sofyan Djalil as chairman of the organizing committee. 

The forum is not exclusively for Islamic businessmen, although it was first established under the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Tun Musa said. 

The WIEF was first formed in 2003 during the 10th OIC Summit, and has both corporate and individual members. WIEF organizes global and regional forums, with the aim of fostering partnership among Muslim entrepreneurs and between Muslim and non-Muslim businessmen. The 4th WIEF was held last May in Kuwait. 

So far this year, Indonesia has attracted investment commitment worth US$5 billion, or half of this year's investment target from Muslim countries, said Alwi Shihab, the President's special envoy for the Middle East, on the sidelines of the MOU signing. 

While the world was facing a serious economic downturn due to the U.S. liquidity crisis, Alwi said, Middle Eastern investors would not back down with their investment plans. 

"But I have to stress that regional government bureaucracies play an important role here. Investments will accelerate faster if they do not slow the process down," he said. (iwp)