On 6 January 2010, the World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF) Foundation hosted an exclusive luncheon themed ‘Europe’s Gateway to Business in the Muslim World’ catered for selected members of the British business community. The corporate gathering, which took place at 12.30pm at the County Hall in London, provided a fresh opportunity for British companies to explore the prospect of doing business in the emerging markets of the Muslim world, through the annual World Islamic Economic Forum, a top-notch business Forum showcasing business opportunities in these emerging markets.
This gathering, hosted by Tun Musa Hitam, former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia and Chairman of the WIEF Foundation, seeks to introduce to British companies the Forum as a gateway into the business sectors of the Muslim world, to be exposed to the region’s vast market of 1.5 billion people, and to capitalise on the Halal market that is currently estimated to be worth more than USD650 billion.
The agenda of the gathering shall include an introductory history of the World Islamic Economic Forum and the WIEF Foundation, a discussion on the prospect of business with the Muslim world, and the announcement of the 6th WIEF scheduled to be held in Kuala Lumpur on 18-20 May 2010.
The 6th WIEF, purportedly one of the most important business forums in 2010, is expected to bring together around 2000 participants comprising world leaders, investors, fund managers, entrepreneurs, bankers and other stakeholders of the business community in a single meeting place. With the theme ‘Gearing for Economic Resurgence’, the 6th WIEF seeks to capture the world’s post crisis mode for change and economic revival.
With a modest beginning as the OIC Business Forum on the side of the 10th OIC Summit in 2003, the World Islamic Economic Forum has grown into a world class business forum, attracting a huge number of participants from the government and business communities worldwide. The change also brought about its complete independence from the OIC, answerable only to the WIEF Foundation, with an International Advisory Panel consisting of international personalities from the business sector and international organisations.
The WIEF Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation based in Kuala Lumpur, organises the annual World Islamic Economic Forum, a world-class business platform showcasing business opportunities in the Muslim world, and to run programmes of the various initiatives of the Foundation that strengthens people partnership and knowledge exchange between Muslim and non-Muslim communities across the globe. The Foundation aims to tackle problems in the Muslim world strictly from a business perspective, and to build bridges through business between the West and the Muslim world.
