Possible hoax site for the 15th Exhibition for members of the OIC

Source: Exhibition website.

The site http://islamicexpo-sa.com/, about the 15th Exhibition for members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), is said to be organised by the Islamic Centre for Development of Trade (ICDT), and to take place at the Riyadh Convention and Exhibition Centre in KSA from 22 to 26 May 2016.

The exhibition is said to be held concurrently with the 17th Private Sector Meeting for the OIC Member States in Riyadh from 22 to 23 May 2016, with the theme Unleash the Opportunities in Textile & Garments Industry in OIC Member States; also with the 15th Trade Fair of the OIC Countries and the 8th Forum for Businesswomen in Islamic Countries, which is also from 22 to 23 May.

The only problem is that the 17th Private Sector Meeting for the OIC Member States has already been held in Riyadh from 8 to 9 November 2015. There is a registration form for the same dates for download at a separate site. The 8th Forum for Businesswomen in Islamic Countries appears to have been held in Kampala, Uganda from 26 to 29 October 2015 - there is also a Facebook post about the event with the October dates from the Islamic Chamber of Commerce, Industry & Agriculture (ICCIA), organiser of the Forum.


The 15th Trade Fair of The OIC Member States does however seem to be slated for May 2016 in Riyadh but there is no link to the event on the OIC site.

Given the discrepancies in dates and the likelihood that anyone can copy and paste information from an existing event site into another and accept payment to register, it is best to check with the stated organisers - not the ones on the suspect site - to verify if the event is indeed genuine before paying. 

National Bank of Kazakhstan becomes AAOIFI member

The National Bank of Kazakhstan, the central bank and financial services regulator of the Republic of Kazakhstan, has taken up membership in Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI). The signing ceremony took place on 2 December at the World Islamic Banking Conference 2014 in Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain.Dr Hamed Hassan Merah, Secretary General of the AAOIFI, said the membership would allow AAOIFI to work more closely with the National Bank of Kazakhstan and the finance industry in the Republic of Kazakhstan to support continuing development of Islamic finance.

Nurlan Kussainov, Deputy Governor, Bank of Kazakhstan said, "The membership gives us an opportunity to gain from the international experience in development of Islamic finance industry, to benefit from recommendations of international experts and financial institutions, and to participate in workshops and conferences organised by AAOIFI”.

The Republic of Kazakhstan introduced in early 2009 law and regulations for operations of Islamic financial institutions. This then led to establishment of the first Islamic bank (Al Hilal) and the first Islamic insurance (takaful) company in 2010. The Development Bank of Kazakhstan then became the first sukuk issuer in the Central Asia region with its sukuk al murabaha issuance in July 2012, denominated in Malaysian ringgit at the equivalent amount of approximately US$76.7 million (RM240 million). Earlier in 2014, the first Islamic leasing (ijarah) company was set up in the Republic of Kazakhstan through participation of the Islamic Corporation for Private Sector Development, a member of the Islamic Development Bank Group.

AAOIFI is a leading international Islamic finance industry development body primarily responsible for development and issuance of standards for the global Islamic finance industry. It has issued a total of 88 standards in the areas of shari’ah, accounting, auditing, ethics and governance for international Islamic finance. 

It is supported by over 200 institutional members, including central banks and regulatory authorities, financial institutions, accounting and auditing firms, and legal firms, from over 45 countries. Its standards are currently followed by all the leading Islamic financial institutions across the world and have introduced a progressive degree of harmonisation of international Islamic finance practices.