Echoes resound from the Global Islamic Economy Summit (GIES) 2015
Three faculty members of the Business Studies Department shared the knowledge and insights gained from the two-day Global Islamic Economy Summit held at the Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai, UAE on October 5th and 6th, 2015. The lecturers of the Business Studies Department attended the reflection session, which was held at the Multi-Purpose Hall on November 5, 2015 from 12:00 – 1:30 PM. The speakers were Dr. Cirilo Mirano, Mr. Reynald Funtinilla and Dr. Joef Ines.
According to the speakers, the event serves as a venue and window for understanding the emerging global Islamic market. More than two thousand policymakers attended the summit as wells as academic and business leaders. The Dubai Chamber of Commerce, the Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre (DIEDC), and Thomson Reuters organized the summit.
Lessons shared and learned includes; the growing Islamic Economy; comprised of seven pillars consisting of Islamic Finance, Halal Food, Halal Media and Entertainment, Halal Pharmaceutic, Halal Cosmetics, Halal Travel, and Halal Fashion. The opportunities and trends in the Islamic economy catering to almost 1.7 billion globally, residing in more than 85 countries worldwide, will surpass the entire global economy of non-Muslims in years to come.
The speakers echoed the words of notable speakers like the Nobel Laureate and Founder of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, Professor Muhammad Yunus, who zeroed in on his vision in three aspects: Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment and Zero Carbon Footprint emission. The most striking statement has accordingly been “ Poverty is a shame to our Creator, for we have abundant resources to nurture and share with humanity”.
Lastly, Halal or Global Halal is not only about Sharia compliance since, until now, there is no universal or unified Halal standard, but being Halal is about standardization or harmonization of standards based on Islamic values. Creating an Islamic identity, hence the key word is value.
Ms. Moza Al Shihi, the HOD, also shared her experience regarding the Halal market in the UK and in the USA. The activity ended with her words of encouragement for the faculty to join or attend seminars, conferences and like events to gain and share knowledge with colleagues in the department.
