MANAMA, 13 October 2007 — With project finance transactions reaching record highs and infrastructure development requirements assessed at more than $1 trillion over the coming decade in the Middle East region — and Qatar alone expected to consume $130 billion, demand from large-scale projects across the LNG, oil & gas, petrochemicals, power and water sectors in particular is growing at an exciting pace. Combined with the huge boom in major real estate projects, the stage is set for meeting the challenges of financing complex projects
The market is also seeing an increasing role in Islamically-structured transactions and this is having a knock-on effect of spurring more innovative ‘next-generation’ Islamic finance solutions.
Building on the success of last year’s inaugural conference, the 2nd Annual World Islamic Infrastructure Finance Conference (WIIFC), will be held on Nov. 4-5 at the Four Seasons Hotel, Doha, and convene more than 250 senior executive delegates representing the international banking, finance, investment and key infrastructure sectors.
Yousuf Hussain Kamal, minister of finance of the state of Qatar & chairman of the Qatar Financial Center Authority will deliver the inaugural Address at the opening ceremony of WIIFC and Sheikh Abdulla Bin Saud Al-Thani, governor of the Qatar Central Bank, will deliver the keynote address.
The governor will focus on the overall economic growth and the subsequent surge in major project funding in the region. He will also highlight the impact of the increase in the number of Islamic banks to 300, and institutions managing assets worth $300 billion. These banks are naturally interested in funding infrastructure projects, especially after they succeeded in devising financial tools that are Shariah-compliant.
The conference which is being held under the theme of “Partnering with Conventional Financial Institutions & Developers to Capture the Boom in Infrastructure Development”, will bring new insights into the latest mechanisms for financing complex transactions, such as: Identifying the Next Wave of Mega-Deals, Latest Innovations in the Application of Sukuk & Islamic Capital Markets & Project Finance: The Next Generation of Islamic Finance Solutions.
QNB Al-Islami will be a strategic partner of the WIIFC for the second year. QNB Al-Islami will also host the Shariah open forum.
