on four major areas : first, building hong kong ’ s international profile and forging closer ties with market participants in the middle east ; secondly, promoting market infrastructure and establishing policies conducive to the development of islamic finance ; thirdly, promoting talent and knowledge of islamic financial principles among market professionals in hong kong ; and fourthly, encouraging the development and launch of islamic finance products in hong kong. concluding remarks ladies and gentlemen, the potential for the growth of islamic finance is clear. the foundations for its development here in hong kong have already been laid. it is essential for all of us to look beyond the current global financial turbulence and treat the development of islamic finance as an investment in the future. with this in mind, i would like to encourage all of you, whether you are regulators, financial institutions or investors, to look critically at the opportunities that lie before us. islamic finance is a new asset class that has the potential to bring new economic growth to hong kong and the region given our wealth of knowledge in financial intermediation, our experience, and our agility in adopting innovative products. so let us work together towards building a stronger and stronger link and increasing cooperation with other global players to identify and capitalise on new opportunities. today ’ s holding of the islamic finance forum in hong kong is a significant step on a journey that is just beginning. i look forward to travelling this road with all of you. thank you.

curve and excel. while we are in the midst of a global financial turmoil and there are many challenges lying ahead of us, i ’ m delighted to find this impressive gathering of regulators, shariah scholars, business leaders and practitioners who commit themselves to the future development of the financial market. your presence here is ample evidence that there remains plenty of opportunities even in circumstances like these and that a forward - looking view is more important than ever. today, i ’ m particularly honoured to join you in the discussion of a topic that has been recognised as a source of sustainability and growth – islamic finance. there are two main issues that i would like to talk about today. first, despite the current financial turmoil, we continue to see the long term potential in islamic finance. there are two good reasons for this. one is that the islamic finance industry is in many ways fortunate to be at an early stage of development during this turmoil. despite the effects of a temporary shortage of liquidity, which has been a worldwide phenomenon, source : bloomberg. the degree of damage has been far lower than that to the much wider network of international finance, primarily because of the more restricted spread of islamic financial instruments across regions and the generally lower level of leverage allowed in islamic financial transactions. although islamic finance has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years, assets held by islamic financial institutions and insurance operators known as takaful providers are estimated to be us $ 1 trillion, accounting for only about 1 % of the financial assets in the overall banking and insurance sectors. 2 the industry ’ s remarkable annual growth rate of 15 % to 20 % has to be viewed in perspective : after all it began from a small base. this suggests that there is still ample room for growth on the supply side in the provision of islamic financial products. on the demand side, the potential of islamic finance is often linked to the 1. 4 billion - strong muslim population worldwide, and some people appear to believe that this obviates the need for further development of islamic finance. but population is not the only factor : economic development in islamic regions also has to be taken into account. the imf has estimated that there are some us $ 800 billion worth of investment projects under way or in the pipeline in countries of the gulf cooperation council ( gcc ) over the next five years, with major projects in the oil and gas sectors, infrastructure and real estate. according to a uk research report, the annual investment rate in the range of us $ 200 billion