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Monday 26 Oct 2015 - 13:12 Makkah mean time-13-1-1437
(Image from IDB)
Istanbul, (IINA) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday opened the International Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Conference, held within the framework of the G20 meetings taking place in Istanbul under the Turkish Presidency, Islamic Development Bank (IDB) reported on Sunday.
The conference, which was attended by many international financial institutions, business owners, investors and Islamic finance leaders, was jointly organized by the World Bank, and IDB, Turkish prime ministry’s under-secretariat for treasury, as well as the country’s industrialists and businessmen’s association (TUMSIAD).
In his opening speech, Erdogan praised the role of the IDB Group in supporting the Islamic banking industry in Turkey, noting that the Group contributed this year $ 570 million to finance two important projects, the construction of the country’s Vakifbank, and provision of a credit line to the Export Credit Bank of Turkey to promote SMEs in Turkey and support their competitiveness in global markets.
Addressing the opening ceremony, the IDB Group President, Dr. Ahmad Mohammed Ali extended appreciation to the Turkish Presidency for having included on G20’s agenda the development of SMEs via Islamic finance.
He further highlighted the significance being placed by policy makers across the globe on the pivotal role of SMEs through Islamic finance in enhancing economic growth and alleviating poverty. “SMEs create jobs and foster growth, contribute to political stability and make a significant dent on poverty in every country”, Dr. Ali reiterated adding: “statistics show that SMEs contribute to an estimated 43.5 percent of the total job opportunities created at international level, a figure that can increase to 57.8 percent worldwide.”
He commended the Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI) and the World Bank’s Global Islamic Finance Development Center for their joint study leading to a flagship report on “Leveraging Islamic Finance for SMEs”. He stressed that the report promotes the studies that link financing SMEs to the opportunities provided by the Islamic finance. “I also envisage that this report will bring significant benefits to G20 constituencies, as well as other developing countries, who are interested in leveraging the Islamic financial services industry for stimulating SMEs”, Dr. Ali said.
Concluding his speech, Dr. Ali called for the establishment of a working group to exchange expertise and develop innovative Islamic financial instruments.
SM/IINA
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