Over the medium term, the key driver of returns and risks in the financial markets will be geoeconomic fragmentation. Rising tensions between US and China have led to higher trade barriers, tighter crossborder investment restrictions, and greater domestic production of critical goods deemed to be of strategic importance. On the trade front, slightly more than 60% of the trade between the two countries is subject to tariffs from one side or the other. Investment flows between the US and China have slowed amid tighter regulations by the US to safeguard national security and supply chains. Both countries have stepped up domestic industrial policies. China has committed $ trillion over five years to augment domestic technology and digital infrastructure. The US has passed the $ billion CHIPS Act to boost semiconductor research and production capabilities over the next ten years. These measures have led to not just reduced trade and investment between the two countries but is also shaping broader shifts in global trade patterns and supply chains. These shifts are most evident in the electronics industry. America’s share in China’s electronic exports fell by 4% points between 2017 and 2021, while regional economies such as Taiwan, Vietnam, and Thailand gained market shares. At the same time, these three economies exported more to the US market in 2021, compared to 2017. Vietnam has seen the largest increase in its exposure to the US market, at 14% points.

I have been informed that this Gateway will also include in its content, the Shariah resolutions database of the International Shariah Research Academy (ISRA) following the signing of the memorandum of understanding between Thomson Reuters and ISRA that is scheduled today. ISRA was established in 2008 to provide a platform for greater engagement amongst practitioners, scholars, regulators, academicians in the area of Shariah and to promote applied research contemporary issues in Islamic finance. Their efforts have contributed to the harmonisation of Shariah interpretations and thus the standardisation of Shariah applications and practices is Islamic finance. ISRA has now become an important repository of knowledge for Shariah views or fatwas. The Reuters Islamic Finance Gateway thus has the potential to become an important vehicle for worldwide dissemination of high quality information on Islamic finance. In performing the function as an aggregator of information on Islamic finance, the Gateway will showcase the dynamic pulse of the global Islamic financial services industry. This increased information flow across borders in real time will also reinforce the trend of the internationalisation of Islamic finance. There is already an increasing level of foreign participation in the Islamic financial markets resulting in the increase of cross border flows in the international Islamic financial system. The increased information flow would allow for the raising of funds in different jurisdictions and for the investor base to be broadened further. Liberalisation has also brought greater foreign institutional presence in national jurisdictions resulting in diversity of players in the Islamic financial systems.