The Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) will boost Malaysia’s financial services to Central Asia.
Realising the potential of Malaysia’s Islamic financial services to be promoted in the said region, the national trade promotion agency conducted an inaugural session of one to one business meetings with Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC).
The programme, which is in conjunction with AIFC’s visit to Malaysia recently, was held on Oct 4, and assisted by the Malaysia International Islamic Financial Centre (MIFC) as the single contact point on the Islamic finance related matters.
Matrade’s Export Promotion and Market Access Division senior director Amran Yem said 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.
The agency’s chief executive officer Datuk Mohd Mustafa Abdul Aziz said 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.
“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.
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.
Among the activities arranged in the programme were briefing by AIFC and meetings between key players the country’s Islamic financial institutions and AIFC.
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.
