aspects, will be able to open up a series of medium to longer term opportunities to export to other countries. as such, securing a suitable financial solution to upgrade and upscale production to meet the demand and requirements, would be an important prerequisite for businesses. recognising these key success factors, recent announcement by government to introduce the halal industry strategic development programme, or ‘ be - halal ’ — under the national halal council secretariat to drive the growth of the halal industry is timely. under “ be - halal ”, participants will be developed further through programmes run by experts in various fields to enable them to be more innovative and progressive as they face various global challenges and ultimately contribute to the nation ’ s halal industry. islamic finance has become part of the mainstream with offerings of competitive financial solutions malaysia has an islamic financial system that operates alongside the conventional system. our unique experience with a dual financial system has been effective on many fronts – effective in 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches bringing segments of the society to access the services of the formal financial system ; effective in enabling and facilitating businesses, especially the small and medium - sized entrepreneurs, to expand their businesses ; and effective in steering development of the country. we have a comprehensive islamic financial system comprising the core components of banking, takaful and capital markets. the islamic finance system have matured and are as competitive with the conventional system, thus providing better choices and options. a robust financial infrastructure is also in place to support development of this system, alongside a responsive regulatory and supervisory framework whilst achieving the high standards of best practice in corporate governance and in financial transparency and disclosure. the islamic financial system consistently reinforces its position as a viable and effective means of intermediation that contributes to the overall economic development. today, islamic banking accounts for 33 percent of malaysia ’ s total banking assets while takaful market share stands at 11 percent for family takaful and 10. 1 percent for general takaful. the islamic financial system continues to grow – at a pace faster than the conventional system. as at end - june 2019, financing outstanding of islamic banks expanded at 8. 6 percent compared to 2. 1 percent for the conventional. meanwhile, new general takaful contributions grew at 16. 4 percent compared to 6. 2 percent for the insurance premium. however, new family takaful contributions grew at 10 percent, slightly lower to life insurance premium of 15. 4 percent. this brings me to the point

is a shared responsibility, across the major regions of the world. several reasons have been cited as constraints to the process of adjustment. this include the relative lack of strength in domestic demand outside the us ; the large gap between saving and investment in major regions of the world ; and the fragmented structure of global capital intermediation that hinders surplus regions from financing productive investments within their region. it is important to recognise the important role that asia can have in contributing to rebalancing global growth and in so doing contribute towards global adjustment of the imbalances. in terms of economic growth, the region has consistently recorded performance that is, one - and - a - half times higher than the global average. on demographics, asia is home to more than half of the world's population, with a young and growing workforce, and expanding middle - class in a number of countries. robust domestic consumption and rising investment have therefore become important sources of growth. this has been supported by the rising income and increased productivity and the expansion of intra - regional trade. the increasing importance of intra - regional trade, which accounts for more than 50 % of asia's total trade, makes the region the next most integrated region after the european union in trade. this has positioned asia as the largest and fast - growing market in the world. in addition, the asian region has also embarked on measures to spur its economic openness by forging free trade agreements, which would contribute to increasing the capacity of the region and the potential of the region, in addition to improving prospects for contributing towards the rebalancing of global growth and the global adjustment process. combined with the region's traditionally high degree of economic openness with a total trade averaging 95 % of gdp in the region, it reflects asia's potential to be a self - sustaining and mutually reinforcing the region's growth. the greater degree of economic flexibility in the region in responding to shocks and the dynamic global conditions is a further feature that contributes towards strengthening the region's potential. while private consumption's contribution to domestic demand is becoming increasingly more significant in the region a renewed expansion in investment is also needed to create a more sustainable growth path. significant initiatives are already underway to increase the contribution of private investment and secure new areas of growth. these include improving the investment climate and reducing the cost of doing business. efforts would also continue to be on - going on the priorities in the region as countries have the potential to further expand the role of