urged to be mifc players and develop malaysia as their regional hub with the potential to have the international currency business operations either through the onshore regulatory framework or under the labuan offshore structure. the success of mifc will depend on the collaborative efforts of the financial regulators, the delivery system, the industry players and the supporting professionals. in meeting the mifc objectives, we encourage the exploitation of this new growth area. at the onset, it is also emphasized that an equally important part of this process is having the right people in place with the appropriate skills, having in place the appropriate systems and governance framework to ensure the viability and sustainability of this industry. this morning's dialogue will provide the opportunity to deliberate the issues from the different perspectives and dimensions so that the full potential of the mifc initiatives can be realized. on this note, i wish you a successful dialogue. thank you.

financial and market regulators and representatives from the banking and takaful sectors. through the shared vision and commitment, this committee is responsible for providing the direction as well as undertaking a review of all existing policies that are relevant for the comprehensive and coordinated promotion of the mifc. two meetings thus far have been convened and several issues have now been resolved with solutions provided to several key implementation issues which ranged from foreign ownership to immigration policies. the secretariat, formed by bank negara malaysia will not only serve the executive committee but will also act as a single contact point for the implementation of the mifc initiatives. working level committees have also been formed to undertake the task of considering new proposals and monitoring the implementation of the mifc recommendations. to take into consideration global trends and to provide insights on the strategic direction, an international advisory panel ( iap ) comprising industry leaders and experts from the global community is also being established. conducive environment for business in continuously creating an enabling environment for the efficient functioning of the mifc, the government has identified several key strategic objectives. t he government has also granted an attractive tax package to promote malaysia as a competitive international islamic financial centre. the objective is to build the base - that is, to create the necessary critical mass of participating financial players and to increase the scale of activity. malaysia aims to attract global players as well as to enhance the capacity and capabilities of the existing financial institutions. among the measures that have been introduced are : • first, liberalising the islamic banking, and takaful and retakaful markets with the issuance of new licences to allow for increased foreign participation ; • second, allowing foreign equity of up to 49 percent in existing islamic banks and takaful companies ; • third, issuance of international islamic bank and international takaful operator licences under the islamic banking act and the takaful act respectively to qualified foreign and malaysian financial institutions to conduct the full range of islamic banking business or takaful and retakaful business in international currencies and enjoy tax holiday for 10 years under the income tax act starting from the year of assessment 2007 ; • fourth, granting approval to malaysian islamic banks and takaful operators to set up international currency business unit ( icbu ) to offer islamic financial services in international currencies and enjoy similar tax holiday ; • fifth, provide greater flexibility to the labuan offshore entities offering islamic financial services to open operation offices anywhere in malaysia. the labuan tax law will continue to be applied