Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai and president of the Dubai International Finance Centre, announced that the platform would include finance instruments, Islamic insurance, Islamic contracts’ arbitration, the Islamic food industry and trade standards (Halal food), and Islamic quality management standards.
Dubai is positioning itself to further boost its involvement in the Islamic economy, which is estimated to be worth $2.3trn with a growing community of 1.6bn Muslims.
Sheikh Mohammed said: "Our cosmopolitan outlook to doing business continues to be our economy’s driving force. Adopting a modern and scientific framework for Islamic economies world-wide, here in Dubai, meets the demand from local, regional and international investors for a central hub to invest, grow and do business."
He added that the new initiatives will further boost the economic diversification of Dubai and “complement Dubai’s pioneering approach to the Islamic economy, having established the world’s first Islamic bank in the 1970s as well as the world’s first Islamic financial market”.
Other initiatives announced by Sheikh Mohammed included the development of commercial standards for Islamic industries and guidelines for Halal food manufacturing.
Sheikh Mohammed said by strengthening Islamic economic principles “as an integral part of our overall approach to growth and development, we are further supporting the entrepreneurial community, especially from the Arab world".
Dubai had the robust infrastructure to serve as the centre of the Islamic economies across the Middle East and North Africa, he said, and also the advantage of serving as a vital link between the West and the East.
