MATRADE To Boost Malaysia’s Islamic Financial Services To Central Asia
FRIDAY, 13 OCTOBER 2023, KUALA LUMPUR: Realising the potential of Malaysia’s Islamic Financial Services to be promoted in Central Asia, the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) took the initiative to conduct an inaugural session of one to one business meetings with Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) in conjunction with AIFC’s visit to Malaysia recently.
Held on 4th October 2023, the programme was assisted by the Malaysia International Islamic Financial Centre (MIFC) as the single contact point on the Islamic finance related matters. Through the one (1) day programme, MATRADE arranged a briefing by AIFC followed by individual business meetings between key players of Malaysian Islamic financial institutions and AIFC.
The key role of AIFC is as a regional centre for business and finance, connecting the economies of Central Asia, Caucasus, the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), Western China, Mongolia, Middle East and Europe. AIFC’s visit to Malaysia was to establish and develop long-term relationship with Malaysian financial institutions and other companies from Malaysia in facilitating the expansion of Malaysian financial businesses to Kazakhstan, promote Kazakh businesses’ outbound activities as well as fostering investment in joint projects.
Malaysia’s leading banking and financial institutions industry players had participated in the B2B meetings. Enquiries raised during the session indicated strong interest from Malaysia’s financial entities to venture into Kazakhstan, being the regional centre for business and finance for the region.
According to the MATRADE’s Senior Director of Export Promotion and Market Access Division, Mr. Amran, Malaysia’s Islamic finance ecosystem is known for its well-established financial regulatory framework, under the purview of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and Securities Commission. “With more than 30 years of existence of Islamic finance, Malaysia now has a significant number of Islamic financial entities supported by a conducive environment, which is renowned for continuous products and services innovations and a broad range of conducive Islamic investment instruments. Malaysia’s pioneering role in the development of Islamic banking and finance started from the establishment of Tabung Haji (TH) in 1963. Today, we are proud to note that the State of the Global Islamic Economy Report 2021/2022 by Dinar Standard has affirmed Malaysia was ranked first globally in Islamic Finance,” said YBhg. Datuk Mohd Mustafa.
In the Malaysia Halal Industry Master Plan 2030, Islamic finance has been identified as one of the key enablers to support the implementation of the plan through the innovative Islamic financing structures. National Trade Blueprint (NTBp) further strengthen the intended target through integrated collaboration in the ecosystem.
These plans outlined several recommendations and initiatives that are being implemented towards achieving the outcomes. MATRADE will continue with export promotion activities in engaging Malaysia’s supply side of the industry with foreign demand globally. The industry players are encouraged to be members of MATRADE, which will enable them to be outreached when the opportunities arise.
Malaysian companies that are keen to be part in MATRADE’s programmes are encouraged to contact MATRADE via email at Alamat emel ini dilindungi dari Spambot. Anda perlu hidupkan JavaScript untuk melihatnya., visit MATRADE’s social media channels or website (www.matrade.gov.my) for more details.
