JAKARTA: The 12th World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF), which ends today, has set a record for the biggest attendance since its inception, WIEF Foundation chairman Tun Musa Hitam said.
“When we first started as a spin-off form the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in 2005, there were 400 participants. The latest figure for the 2016 WIEF is 4,000 registered delegates,” he said at a press conference with Malaysian media here.
Describing the WIEF as a “jewel” that Malaysia owns, Musa said the forum measures its success not by the number of deals secured or “big names” in attendance, but by enhancing trade and business opportunities for participants of various nations and backgrounds.
“It’s not the memoranda of understanding (MoUs) and so forth that are our KPIs. It’s connecting people. This year we focus more on start ups and micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). The biggest attendance ever reflects the presence of these small groups,” he added.
The WIEF started as the OIC Business Forum in 2003 in conjunction with the 10th OIC Summit in Putrajaya, Malaysia. The WIEF idea was conceived at the 2nd OIC Business Forum in Kuala Lumpur in 2004, and the WIEF Foundation was institutionalised the following year.
The annual WIEF has been held in Malaysia, Pakistan, Kuwait, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, London and Dubai. This is the second time that Jakarta has hosted the forum. This year’s theme was “Decentralising Growth, Empowering Future Business”.
Musa said as the host this year, Indonesia had identified five priority areas that it wanted to promote through the WIEF — its huge infrastructure needs, Islamic banking and finance, halal tourism, modest or Islamic fashion, and MSMEs.
Eleven agreements relating to real estate, medical facility, halal industry, franchise industry, Islamic finance and capital market amounting to USD899.6 million were exchanged during the forum.