Kazan, the capital of the autonomous republic of Tatarstan, is hosting the event for the second time. As many as 500 participants from all over the world are expected to attend the summit.
Key speakers include Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov, former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, the UK’s Lord Nazir Ahmed and Lord Mohamed Iltaf Sheikh, Adviser to the OIC secretary-general Nabika Diallo, CEO & General Manager of the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (Islamic Development Bank Group) Khaled M. Al-Aboodi and representatives of Islamic financial institutions and government bodies.
The summit’s agenda includes a pre-summit seminar for consulting and legal companies, a roundtable discussion on Muslim philanthropy, a strategic forum and roundtable on innovation policy, an investment forum, an Islamic economics and finance conference, and a range of business meetings and presentations.
An innovation and investment exhibition will be held on the sidelines of the conference for two days. Participants will have an opportunity to present their services and products to Russian and foreign investors, and introduce themselves to business partners and media representatives.
The largest Russian trade fair of Halal products and services, KAZANHALAL 2010, will also take place in conjunction with the summit. As many as 100 Halal manufacturers will exhibit their baked and meat products, clothes, pharmaceuticals, personal hygiene products, equipment and printed materials.
Organizers of the trade fair — Islamic Business and Finance Development Foundation, Linova-MEDIA and Non-Commercial Partnership of Muslim Entrepreneurs “Tarkhan” — believe it is a good platform for businessmen from all over the world to share ideas, learn the peculiarities of foreign Halal markets, and participate in creating a new market segment in Russia that is estimated to be worth millions of dollars.
According to Linar Yakupov, the president of IBFD Foundation and founder of KAZANSUMMIT, the upcoming event is expected to be more fruitful than the first. “We can speak about important results of KAZANSUMMIT 2009, such as initiation of the establishment of the Tatarstan International Investment Company (TIIC). The offices of TIIC and Kazan Halal Hub are to be opened during KAZANSUMMIT 2010. Both projects should become important links in the Russian Halal market infrastructure,” Yakupov said.
The main aims of KAZANSUMMIT 2010 are to identify strategic development prospects of international economic relationship between Russia and Muslim countries, develop ethical business and finance in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and attract direct investments into the Russian regions. The summit also aims to promote Islamic investments as a resource for the innovation-based development of Russia and to introduce the experience of comfortable ethical business projects to the region. Ethical business is actively exercised in many Western and Asian countries, and recognized by Muslims as well as non-Muslims.
