Rt Honorable Datuk Seri Utama Ir Haji Idris Bin Haji Haron, Chief Minister of Malacca, has graciously officiated the opening of 4th ASEAN International Conference on Islamic Finance (AICIF) with the theme “A Re-evaluation and Way Forward” on 6th December 2016 at Equatorial Hotel Malacca, Malaysia. 220 regional delegates participated in this 3-day conference which included site-visit of the historic state.
In his keynote address, the Chief Minister envisioned the State Government of Malacca to establish a hub for Islamic Banking and Finance by facilitating the setting-up of international financial institutions that could be operational within the next 5 to 10 years time. The Islamic banking and finance hub was planned in preparation of economic development impact arising from the dynamic business activities of its international port as a synergy with the growth of Sutera Maritime Passage in the 21st century.
Chief Minister went stressed that “The State Government expected annually more than 5,000 vessels to stop-by at Malacca International Port which means every day there will be between 10 to 20 vessels anchoring at the port. This is the time to map-out implementation strategies for Malacca to become the hub of Islamic Banking & Finance in the next 5 to 10 years. I can offer IIUM to realize this Master Plan.”
The main organizer of 4th AICIF was IIUM Institute of Banking and Finance, Malaysia (IIiBF) led by Prof Dr. Khaliq Ahmad with the State Government of Malacca as its main Strategic Partner/Sponsor. The joint co-organizers were Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Kalijaga, Jogyakarta; Universitas Islam Sultan Agung, Semarang (UNISSULA); Sultan Sharif Ali Islamic University, Brunei Darussalam (UNISSA); Universitas Darussalam Gontor (UNIDA); and Mindanao State University, Marawi City (MSU) Philippines.
It has been resolved that the main organizers for 5th AICIF 2017 is UNISSA in Brunei Darulsalam and the 6th AICIF 2018 will be MSU in Davao City, Philippines. The other partners namely IIiBF, UNISSULA and Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Kalijaga and UNIDA will be the co-organizers. They unanimously mandated ICIFE Secretariat to create a platform of network to strategically support UNISSA & MSU in promoting and marketing 5th & 6th AICIF capitalizing on its Institutional members/Chapters worldwide.
