The 7th World Islamic Economic Forum opens here today (Tuesday) in Kazakhstan capital, Astana with hundreds of participants attending the annual meeting.

Starting with a focus on exploring business potentials in the Muslim world, the three-day Forum will introduce ideas on global solutions and ultimately, recognising the Muslim world as equal partners in the development of the world economy.

This year’s Forum is expected to bring together government leaders, captains of industries, academic scholars, regional experts, professionals and corporate managers to discuss opportunities for business partnerships in the Muslim world.

The number of participants in WIEF is increasing every year over the five years since inception. From a mere 600 participants in 2005, the fifth Forum in Jakarta attracted a record of 1,728 participants in 2009 and over two thousand in 2010.

The World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF) started in earnest in 2005 at its inaugural session in Kuala Lumpur. It is arguably the first Forum of its kind to introduce a business agenda not only for Muslim countries and Muslim communities worldwide, but for the global business community at large that are interested to invest and do business in the Muslim world. The line-up of leaders attending has been impressive over the years.

The WIEF Foundation was established on the 6th March 2006 to institutionalise the World Islamic Economic Forum. (WIEF).

The WIEF Foundation, a no-profit organization based in Kuala Lumpur, organizes the annual World Islamic Economic Forum and runs programmes of the various initiatives of the Foundation that strengthen people partnership and knowledge exchange between Muslim and non-Muslim communities across the globe. The foundation aims to tackle global problems strictly from a business perspective, and to build bridges through business between the Muslim and non-Muslim world.

From a decent start of a few country leaders, the Forum has now grown in acceptable throughout every region of the Muslim world, with a notable presence of leaders from the African continent, the Gulf region, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and East Asia.

The Foundation seeks to fulfil its objective of organizing its annual and regional Forums and to implement the programmes established under the WIEF initiatives. An International Advisory Panel was also established to provide the strategic direction to the Forum and its related programmes.

The Foundation established its own Permanent Secretariat in July 2008 and is managed by a Board of Trustees led by the Chairman of the Foundation.

Source : Pakistan Observer