the progress of the industry. crafting legislation to facilitate the growth and development of islamic finance requires dedication and skill, and the ties that have since developed between lawyers, regulators, shariah scholars and industry practitioners, have inevitably blossomed into a strong relationship based on mutual understanding and close co - operation. going forward, it remains crucial for this close collaboration to continue so that more pioneering progress can be achieved in paving the way towards greater international integration and expansion of the islamic finance industry. towards this end, the legal practitioners should work together to create a network to foster its development. this might involve the setting up of a specific association of international groupings of islamic finance legal practitioners working together towards harmonisation of practices at the international level. thank you.

attest to our commitment in pursuing well - rounded growth and development for the nation. today, islamic finance forms part of the overall financial services industry that has proven to be an instrumental engine for driving economic growth for our economy. let me now briefly recap the evolution of islamic finance in malaysia. our journey officially began with the establishment of the first islamic bank in 1983 and in the year that followed, the first takaful operator. we have never looked back since then to evolve a comprehensive domestic islamic financial system operating alongside the conventional financial system, comprising the islamic banking institutions, the takaful industry, the islamic money and capital markets. these respective components have been progressively liberalized over the years, allowing for more foreign presence in the market to become internationally more integrated. this has led to diversity in market players, and the increased competitive forces now provide the impetus for increased innovation in the market. the dynamism in the market has been supported by a robust regulatory and supervisory framework, reinforced by the legal and shariah framework, the payment and settlement systems. our shariah framework in particular is distinctively robust, through the consultative role of the shariah advisory council of bank negara malaysia and securities commission, complemented by the shariah board of individual islamic financial institutions. this strategy has served us well, as it had nurtured innovation whilst ensuring stability in the marketplace. collectively, the strategies that we had adopted have brought about significant progress on several fronts, in the areas of institutional structure, diversity of players, operational efficiency and the wide range of products and services. several global players have chosen malaysia as their regional base for islamic finance. our sukuk market in particular has come a long way since the issuance of the first global sovereign sukuk by malaysian government in 2002. today, it has evolved into the world ’ s largest islamic bond market, accounting for more than fifty percent of global sukuk issuances in the first half of 2010. it has attracted the participation of various foreign corporations, multinational corporations and multilateral agencies in raising funds and investing in issuances out of malaysia. in the latest development, japan ’ s biggest brokerage house has recently listed its first us dollar sukuk on bursa malaysia. the strength and competitiveness of our sukuk market in bridging and strengthening financial linkages thus best encapsulates malaysia ’ s evolving role as an important international gateway in islamic finance, particularly in linking the two