Malaysia's Islamic financial hub has been built on the foundation of a comprehensive and progressive Islamic financial system that has been developed in the recent three decades. Activity in the Islamic financial system has become vibrant, in particular, in the sukuk market and in the other wholesale Islamic financial transactions. Going forward, Malaysia will collaborate with other financial centres with the aim of strengthening the international interlinkages in the global Islamic financial system. Today, Malaysia is taking another step forward and launching a global communication campaign to the world. The campaign is part of our efforts to strengthen our connectivity with the rest of the world. The MIFC global communication campaign highlights the opportunities and offerings – here in Malaysia – for investors, issuers, industries in the economic sectors and for professionals and practitioners with interest in the Islamic financial services industry. Malaysia presents itself as a meeting place for those with surplus funds and those who seek to raise funds from any part of the world. As an Islamic financial hub, the Islamic financial intermediaries are supported by institutions of learning for human capital development in Islamic finance. It is Malaysia's aspiration to participate in this exciting journey at the frontier of Islamic finance as it progresses as the fastest growing segment in the global financial industry today. In conjunction with the opening session of the MIF 2008, it gives me great pleasure to launch the MIFC Global Communication Campaign. To all the participants, I wish you a successful and productive conference. Thank you.

It has been increasing by an annual rate of about 20 percent and it accounts for about 56 percent of the outstanding bond market in Malaysia. Several foreign multilateral development banks, quasi sovereign agencies and MNCs have received the approval of the authorities for the issuance of sukuks in our domestic sukuk market. The Malaysian foreign exchange administration rules have been extensively liberalised to enable non-resident corporations to raise ringgit and foreign currency denominated funds from our market. International issuers may thus issue multi-currency sukuks in addition to having the flexibility to swap domestic currency funding into other currencies. Pillar 2: Islamic fund and wealth management The sukuk market has been an important source of financing for productive investment activities, while for investors it provides potential for diversification into new asset classes. The second pillar in the Malaysia Islamic financial hub is the Islamic fund and wealth management industry. Malaysia is centrally located in the ASEAN region that has a population of 570 million. It is also positioned centrally between the major Asian economies of India, China, Japan and Korea. Malaysia has always been a highly open economy in trade and investment activities and has been a major recipient of foreign direct investment for more than a hundred years. As a destination for financial investment, the Malaysian capital market offers a wide range of world class financial products. More than 85 percent of the listed companies in the equity market are Shariah compliant, representing about 60 percent of total market capitalisation.