global financial stability. let me conclude my remarks. while the inherent strengths of islamic finance have contributed to its viability and resilience, going forward into the future, the foundations for its sustainability as a competitive form of financial intermediation will continue to be strengthened. concerted efforts are underway focusing on the further development of the islamic financial markets, the financial infrastructure, the investment in research and development to support innovation, and enhancing further the legal, regulatory and supervisory framework. tapping on the advances in technology and the development of human capital are also an important part of the development of islamic finance. finally, with greater liberalisation, effective infrastructure is also being put in place for enhancing interlinkages across jurisdictions. an important part of these developments will be for a more inclusive arrangement that would allow for greater interface with the current reform efforts being undertaken in the international financial system. our vigorous pursuit and commitment to strengthening the resilience of islamic financial industry would enhance the potential to contribute towards global financial stability and in turn enhance the prospects for global growth. thank you.

step towards realising the true value propositions of islamic finance. the future growth of islamic finance, in my view, is underpinned by three key areas. this could also lead us to defining the future of islamic finance as the ‘ new normal ’ that can bring greater sustainable and equitable economic development. first, is to have a more cohesive efforts by industry players across all sectors in islamic finance to realise its virtues that uphold social justice ; equality ; economic prosperity ; and inclusivity. indeed, these are challenging and daunting expectations. however, it is only through collaboration, that the islamic finance industry could push its growth trajectory, into the next level of maturity. working in silos should be replaced by promoting a culture of collaboration. industry players should not only play a proactive role to enhance collaboration within the industry, it should also be extended beyond sectoral boundaries. in the area of product development for example, collaboration within the banking group can be explored to offer a more comprehensive range of products and gain greater scale such as the offering of microfinancing and microtakaful as a composite product. moving forward, collaboration beyond traditional sectors ; and into competitive industries, such as retail, communication and oil and gas should be advanced as it opens up and extends our outreach to form new alliances. joining forces with other industries will allow us to embark on a faster learning curve, while equipping ourselves with new skill sets. this will enable the intended business objectives and outcomes to be met within a short period of time. a recent example of such collaboration between a few domestic islamic banks is the establishment of the investment account platform. the test of the collaboration however, lies in its strength and sustainability in pursuing the intended outcomes. at the regional level, there is also potential for industry players to collaborate through the islamic infrastructure investment platform or ( i3p ) that is now still at the proposal stage. through this regional dialogue platform, collaboration may be fostered between financial institutions, regulators and ministries from apec economies with multilateral institutions and academic experts to explore measures that can expand cross - border investments by islamic financial institutions. in particular, the potential for islamic pension funds and takaful to finance infrastructure projects in apec economies can be explored. in realising the virtues of islamic finance, it also warrants islamic banks to progressively strengthen its intermediary functions. i would like to encourage islamic banks to take on a more prominent and proactive role as investment intermediaries in addition to credit