zeti akhtar aziz : enhancing financial linkages towards economic prosperity joint opening remarks by dr zeti akhtar aziz, governor of the central bank of malaysia, at the joint high level conference on islamic finance : “ enhancing financial linkages towards economic prosperity ”, jakarta, 18 july 2011. * * * bank negara malaysia sangat berbangga kerana dapat bekerjasama dengan bank indonesia dalam menganjurkan persidangan bersama peringkat tinggi kewangan islam bertema “ enhancing financial linkages towards economic prosperity ”. fokus khusus persidangan ini ke atas kewangan islam dan perkembangannya di peringkat antarabangsa, telah memperlihatkan perkembangan pesatnya sejak beberapa tahun kebelakangan ini, yang turut menyumbang kepada hubungan ekonomi dan pertumbuhan kewangan antarabangsa. persidangan hari ini mempertemu peserta industri, penggubal dasar dan pengawal selia, serta ahli akademia dan pakar shariah dari malaysia dan indonesia untuk membincangkan peluang - peluang kerjasama. pengukuhan jalinan kedua - dua sektor kewangan islam kita bukan sahaja akan menyumbang dalam membangunkan serta mengukuhkan lagi industri ini, malah ia akan turut memanfaatkan secara optima sumber kewangan serantau dan juga meningkatkan keupayaaan untuk mengurus cabaran semasa dalam persekitaran antarabangsa yang sentiasa berubah. izinkan saya mengambil kesempatan ini untuk menyampaikan penghargaan kepada yang terhormat bapak prof. dr. boediono, wakil presiden republik indonesia kerana sudi menyampaikan ucaptama di persidangan pada hari ini, dan merakamkan penghargaan kami kepada duli yang teramat mu

##lia raja nazrin shah, raja muda perak, malaysia yang telah mencemar duli untuk menyampaikan titah di persidangan ini. izinkan saya untuk meneruskan ucapan ini dalam bahasa inggeris. internationalisation of islamic finance and its role in strengthening financial and economic linkages two important global trends are currently taking place. the first is the significant growth of emerging economies in the world, and the second is, the greater international integration as economies and financial systems become increasingly more connected. however, no longer is international trade solely between the emerging world and the developed world, but trade amongst the emerging world has increased immensely. while world trade has expanded by almost four - fold, trade amongst emerging economies grew by more than ten times. in particular trade between asia and the middle east and latin america is gaining traction and importance. similarly, cross - border financial flows are no longer concentrating between the emerging world and the developed markets, but increasingly it is between emerging economies. as financial markets and financial systems in emerging economies become more developed, greater financial flows between our economies are taking place. these trends have supported and reinforced the recovery and growth that is currently experienced in the emerging world. the turn of this millennium has seen an acceleration in the internationalisation of islamic finance. this is manifested by the increased number of islamic financial institutions that are now operating beyond their own jurisdictions, and the increased international participation in islamic financial markets. this trend is resulting in increased shariah - compliant cross - border financial flows. with its internationalisation, islamic finance is therefore increasingly bis central bankers ’ speeches contributing to the more efficient mobilisation and allocation of funds across regions, and strengthening the financial and economic linkages in particular in between our emerging nations. in this regard, the transition of islamic finance into the mainstream of the global financial system is an opportunity for the nusantara financial intermediaries, in particular in indonesia and malaysia, to open new frontiers and to participate in this trend and thereby strengthen further our economic and financial linkages. with our own respective comparative advantages, we can leverage on the complementarities between our respective economies that will bring forth synergistic effects which will in turn contribute towards expanding the markets, widen the spectrum of products and services, and enhance financial markets activities. the islamic finance agenda : enhancing linkage between malaysia and indonesia the linkages and relationships have been fostered in