1st WIEF REGIONAL FORUM 2007

Event Summary
"Forging Business Partnerships in the SEACO region"
Bangladesh-China Friendship Convention Centre, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Event Synopsis
The 1st WIEF Regional Forum in Dhaka, Bangladesh is a practical attempt to revive the SEACO initiative which was first mooted in 1992, the first subregional attempt to an OIC common market. But the cold hard fact is that, intra-trade among OIC countries, let alone countries in the SEACO region – comprising Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Maldives, and Bangladesh – is negligibly low. It is therefore an exercise in futility to discuss the creation of SEACO common market at this stage. What is now relevant for countries in this region, as a first step towards greater collaboration and integration, is to get the private sectors of this region together, and do business with each other. The private sector is the prime mover of regional collaboration. Thus only when the private sectors of these countries are interwoven successfully, can we readily bring in the government apparatuses to discuss the mechanism in which to facilitate the flow of commerce and trade. This is where the WIEF plays its pivotal role.

Thus the Dhaka Regional Forum is a private sector initiative to forge greater business partnership among the region’s private sectors. In order to facilitate this, the Dhaka programme has been carefully tailored to cater for business networking, deal closures, and meaningful exchanges of ideas on business and trade. As you will see from the programme, the main thrust of the Forum will be on branding, namely country branding and corporate branding. These will take the center stage in the programme. Be sure not to miss these insightful sessions.

The business-linkage sessions are tailored to pitch the buyers and investors on one hand, and the sellers and partners on the other, in a rich and focused exchange on the relevant industry. The expected outcome of these sessions is therefore to bring together the different stakeholders of the industry, cutting across the SEACO region, where they can meet, know each other, and explore potential opportunities on collaboration. The Dhaka Forum also hosts an array of plenary sessions which is of interest to the region (please refer to the Dhaka programme).

The World Islamic Economic Forum thus cordially invites participants – vendors, potential investors, financial institutions, partners, thought leaders, ministers etc – to the 1st WIEF Regional Forum in Dhaka, Bangladesh.