role of market discipline in driving islamic financial institutions towards ensuring shariah compliance in the operations, but also contribute towards improving operational efficiency, strengthening risk management infrastructures and instituting sound and dynamic risk management practices. conclusion to harness the full potential of the islamic financial system, genuine endeavors to strengthen further the islamic financial infrastructure, to develop the islamic financial markets and to innovate islamic financial instruments and activities that are able to meet the changing requirements of the new economy and the contemporary global marketplace need to be continuously pursued. with the acceleration of the global integration of islamic finance, it will provide the synergies and opportunities for the islamic financial industry to evolve into an important component of the international financial system that can contribute to enhance the prospects for a more balanced global growth and global financial stability. on that note, i wish you a successful conference. thank you.

##riah - based unit trust funds has also grown consistently over the years to reach 55 in 2003 with a net asset value of rm4. 75 billion, constituting a market share of 6. 8 %. the rapid growth of islamic unit trusts comprising a variety of bond funds, equity funds and balanced funds increases the efficiency and potential of the islamic financial system as an intermediation channel by providing investors access to professional asset management that is based on their distinct risk tolerance levels. the development of a vibrant, efficient and effective islamic capital market requires the creation of a broad spectrum of innovative islamic financial instruments and the infrastructure to promote active trading so as to enhance the breadth and depth of the market. in the development of islamic financial instruments, the challenge is to develop innovative and more diverse islamic financial structures that are not only able to accord flexibility to issuers in managing their distinct financing requirements but also able to meet investor ’ s demand in accordance with their risk and return preferences. at the international level, the successful issuance of the first sovereign global islamic sukuk by the government of malaysia which attracted significant interest from a wide international investor base, acted as a catalyst for other countries and corporations to tap the international islamic financial market and provided the impetus to the development of the international islamic financial market ( iifm ). the iifm is entrusted with the task of creating an enabling environment that will encourage active participation by both islamic and non - islamic financial institutions in the secondary market for islamic financial instruments. strategic alliances such as those forged between iifm, the labuan international financial exchange and the bahrain stock exchange will further pave the way for cross - border listing and trading of islamic financial products. this will increase international investors ’ access to islamic financial instruments, enhance liquidity and spur the development of an islamic capital market with greater global reach. strengthening the foundations for the development of a sound, progressive and sustainable islamic financial system the strengthening of the financial infrastructure is a key pre - requisite for the development of a dynamic and progressive islamic financial system. an important feature of a comprehensive and welldeveloped financial infrastructure is the diversity of the players and institutions in the system that have been developed based on their distinctive capabilities and competitive advantage thus raising their performance level, valued added and contribution to overall growth and development. in addition, as part of the strategy to enhance our integration with the international financial system and to strengthen our inter - linkages with other economies, the liberalization of the islamic banking industry has been brought forward to