«Islamic Finance in Russia & CIS
— market and regulation»

Istanbul, March 1, 2011

The Round table will bring together top level representatives from financial and economic ministries, central banks and other regulating bodies of Russia, CIS countries, the Gulf, Southeast Asia and Europe. The event will focus on cooperation and mutual consultations at the application of a wide range of available financial instruments to strengthen the financial system. In particular, Round table will be dedicated to Islamic finance – international experience of application, regulation and use in daily economic practice.

Russia and the CIS countries have huge natural resources including oil, gas, cotton, minerals etc. The infrastructure and development spend is also projected to be in the billions of dollars. The Muslim population of the CIS countries, including Russia, total about 150 million, which is a sizable market by any standards. Russia is also an Observer Member of the OIC and the Central Asian CIS Republics are all full members of both the OIC and the IDB. Declared by the President of Russia the economy modernization and the establishment of an international financial center in Moscow set a priority task of the attracting a substantial amount of domestic and foreign investment into the Russian economy and the provision of domestic and foreign businesses the world class financial services.

The growing demand for Islamic finance in the world, their stability during the global financial crisis, a significant investment opportunities of Islamic international financial community, the need to attract foreign investment and other factors have created real prerequisites for the introduction and functioning of the Islamic financial institutions in Russia & CIS countries. The Round table is the first one in the series of Roundtables themed: «Islamic Finance in Russia & the CIS — Demystifying the Ethos, Identifying Challenges, Exploring Synergies and Opportunities». The Round Table is designed for financial market regulators, and is expected to be an important step towards creation of the Road Map for introduction of the Islamic Finance in Russia & CIS.

Objectives:

Round table is a consultation process and is aimed to bring together Russian & CIS Government Officials and market players with counterparts in key countries where Islamic banking is established and proven. a). Initiate open discussion at regulators level on prospective of the development Islamic finance; b). Provide an opportunity for Russian & CIS regulators to learn directly from regulators of other countries about the approach, process of the development, challenges and outcomes; c). Generate understanding of regulators of the need for further joint consultations and interactions in the regulation of Islamic finance and other.

Organization of proceedings

In accordance with the practice of Round table meetings all participants will have equal speaking rights. So that the discussion can be as fruitful as possible, the following arrangements have been foreseen so far: Round table will be held according to a prearranged program, which will identify the topics for discussion and participants invited to the debate; there will be no list of speakers. After a keynote speech or item for discussion has been introduced by resource person, the floor will be opened to participants for comments and questions; experience has shown that Round table format is not suitable for pre-prepared statements to be read out. Lively discussion amongst participants will be favored.

Delegates

Participants from RF: op level officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Federation Council of RF, Ministry of Finance, the Bank of Russia, Federal Service for Financial Markets, Ministry of Economic Development, Federal Service for Financial Monitoring, Government of the city of Moscow, the Association of Russian Banks, the Federal Tax Service, Russia’s Security Council, Chamber of Commerce of RF, Moscow International Stock exchange. International participants: senior managers of State financial and economic bodies from Malaysia, Bahrain, Turkey, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Luxembourg, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan, representatives of major business.

Venue

Swissotel The Bosphorus, address: Bayıldım Cad. No: 2 Maçka, Beşiktaş 34357, Istanbul-Turkey.

Swissôtel The Bosphorus, Istanbul, as a member of the Leading Hotels of the World and in the Gold List of Travel & Leisure 500 World’s Best Hotels 2009, is a 5-star luxury hotel right in the centre of Istanbul, on the European banks of the Bosphorus, within 65 acres of historical gardens. The hotel has convenient access to the Ataturk International Airport and is close to all main historical attractions, such as Grand Bazaar and the Blue Mosque.