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100 investment projects presented at Kazan OIC-RF forum

The third international exhibition Kazan-Halal will be opened within the forum’s Kazan Fair

KAZAN, May 17 (Itar-Tass) — As many as 100 investment projects worth 300 billion roubles, have been presented at the 4th International Summit that opened in Kazan on Thursday. The forum, focusing on “economic cooperation between Russia and the countries of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)” was organised by the government of Tatarstan, the Islamic Business & Finance Development Foundation (IBFD) with the support of the Federation Council of Russia, chairman of the organising committee, head of the Investment Promotion Agency of Tatarstan Linar Yakupov told Itar-Tass.

“The Kazan Summit becomes a real platform for successful business cooperation of Russia and the Islamic world,” President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov said opening the forum. As many as 100 investment projects in the field of chemistry and petrochemistry, machine building, construction, agricultural industry, light industry, tourism and services totalling almost 300 billion roubles have been presented to the event participants - entrepreneurs, bankers and investors.

The financial system of the Islamic world, comprising 1.5 billion Muslims, according to Minnikhanov, over the past five years has grown 1.5 times and in 2011 reached 1.3 trillion US dollars. Three-quarters of the world’s oil reserves are is the territory of Muslim countries. “Islamic finance, based on Sharia law, has demonstrated its effectiveness and low risks. It successfully withstood the blows of the global crisis,” the Tatarstan head said.

Minnikhanov added that the Ak Bars Bank was the first in Tatarstan to place in Kazan funds of the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) worth 60 million dollars, which was Europe’s best deal in 2011.

The summit is attended by thousands of guests from over 30 countries of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Among them are Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Morocco, Turkey, the UAE, Oman, Pakistan, and others. Delegations of businessmen from 13 regions of Russia are taking part in the forum for the first time.

The forum’s format this year is expanded by the parliamentary delegations of the OIC countries, which will hold an international conference called “Parliaments of the Islamic world for the establishment of a favourable business and investment climate.” Russia is represented at the forum by a delegation of the Federation Council headed by RF deputy chairman Ilyas Umakhanov.

According to Umakhanov, the OIC parliamentarians and Russia intend to discuss at the conference the important issue – how to formalise in legislation the developing economic relations between Russia and Muslim countries.

It is planned to sign several agreements at the summit, which will last two days.

The third international exhibition Kazan-Halal will be opened within the forum’s Kazan Fair. Some 100 companies from Russia, CIS countries, Southeast Asia, the Middle East taking part in it are presenting goods manufactured in accordance with the Islam canons.