KUCHING: The 13th World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF) closed yesterday on a high note, delivering long-lasting impact across businesses, countries and communities, and paving the way for a successful next edition. Chairman of the World Islamic Economic Forum Foundation Tun Musa Hitam said that the 13th WIEF in Kuching was a tremendous success and was in many ways the strongest-ever edition. “We intentionally focus on creating concrete opportunities and action points to truly enable businesses, countries and communities, a mission that the World Islamic Economic Forum is in a unique position to deliver.
“More importantly, all the MoUs, initiatives and programmes we have put in place over the last three days were aimed at creating a runway for positive actions after the Forum, and leading up to next year’s meet,” said Musa during the press conference after the closing ceremony of the 13th WIEF held at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK), yesterday.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah said that Sarawak was honoured to be chosen as the host for the prestigious 13th WIEF. “The State will continue to work together and collaborate with any organisation or country to make the world a better place to live and uplift the socio-economic wellbeing of the communities. “Our efforts and initiatives will not stop here,” said Tengah. He also expressed his appreciation to the federal government and WIEF Foundation for their trust in the State to host the forum, and also to local and international speakers and panelists from abroad.
Centred on the theme ‘Disruptive Change: Impact and Challenges’, the three-day Forum focused on highlevel dialogues on global forces of disruption, panel discussions on business challenges and workshopstyle sessions to develop actionable plans and that it proved and‘was ‘aware of the situation we are in’. The Forum opened on a big win for the business community with 16 Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) being inked and documents exchanged with worth amounting to US$2.43 billion making it the highest-ever commercial value ever achieved in a single edition in the history of the Forum. The MoU documents exchanged covered the technology, halal food and energy sectors, nine of which were with international organisations.
Beyond their commercial value, these memoranda of understanding delivered a high impact to the global business community by creating new collaborations, opening new markets and uncovering new ways to capitalise on opportunities presented by a variety of disruptive forces shaping the world today. Launching the inaugural WIEF alumni network on the second day underscored WIEF’s commitment to the global community.
The WIEF alumni network brings together 17,000 members, all connected on a single digital platform to help members network and collaborate seamlessly across borders to take the Forum discussions into action. This marks the first time the World Islamic Economic Foundation is aggregating the untapped power of its global network to advance its agenda of driving co-operation between Muslim and non-Muslim nations set against a backdrop of disruptive changes.
In addition, the 13th WIEF outperformed its previous discussions by attracting leaders, captains of industries and delegates from over 77 countries, which is the most diverse representation of the global community in the history of the Forum.
