MANAMA, 7 October 2003 — The 5th International Conference on Islamic Economics and Finance opens today at Bahrain’s Ritz Carlton Hotel. Hosted by Bahrain’s Ministry of Finance and National Economy, the conference theme is, “Sustainable Development and Islamic Finance in Muslim Countries.” The conference is organized by the University of Bahrain, the Islamic Research and Training Institute of the Islamic Development Bank, Jeddah, and the International Association for Islamic Economics, UK.
During the three-day conference, more than 30 papers will be presented by economic researchers, academics, bankers and businessmen from around the world. The speakers and delegates will also meet to consider the problems facing Muslim countries and the obstacles restricting their progress and development. There are a number of challenges facing Islamic economies and strategies must be created to meet them.
“Sustainable development and finance are closely linked as the former may not be possible without the help of a strong and stable financial system which mobilizes and allocates resources efficiently and equitably,”wrote the conference organizing committee. “This brings into focus a number of issues related to both development and finance. Some of these issues relate to the kind of development desired by Islam, how such development can be realized and how the problems faced by Muslim countries can be solved.” Their comments continued, “If finance is one of the conditions for development and its prime mover, it requires the presence of an advanced financial system. It must be determined how such a system may be established in accordance with Islamic teachings and principles and would it be able to react with modern and subsequent developments in the world of money, economy and business?”