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Al-Nasr Exports
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MONTHLY * Vol 11-11 No:130 * NOVEMBER 1997/ RAJJAB 1418H

email: editor@islamicvoice.com

NEWS FROM ISLAMIC WORLD -1

* West Owes debt to Islam : German Author : Honours for German Muslims
* New Mosque for Moscow
* Islamic Women’s Right Meet
* IDB Aid to Dhaka
* Metro for Damascus
* Fire-proof Tents fitted with Fire alarms
* Pakistani company to lay Electric lines in Makkah
* Islamic capital market listing
* Iran to float Islamic Bond
* Conference on Islamic Project Financing
* Pakistan aims at 70% Literacy
* Geneva Islamic Funds Lure over $100 million
* Islamic Banking Seminar in Bahrain

West Owes debt to Islam : German Author : Honours for German Muslims

BONN : The Supreme Islamic Council in Germany has conferred honorary membership of the Council to several German thinkers including orientalist and Islamic researcher Dr. Anne Mary Schemmel, the German Muslim Preacher Fatima Greem, Professor of Economics at Cologne University and Islamic thinker Dr. Ayob Kohlin and the renowned British preacher Yusuf Islam. The Council conferred honours to mark the celebration of the year against racism in Bonn.

The Council President Dr. Elias said the Council serves the interests of the 2.5 million German Muslims which includes 150,000 German Muslims. Former German Ambassador to Morocco Murad Hoffman said Islam from its inception refused the notion of nationalities and national exclusiveness and for the first time in the history founded an identity and nationality that is not connected to a country or race, but to a faith that explains clearly that differences in colour or racial origin is no excuse for some people to claim superiority over others.

German Church representative Reverend Bofa Koona said it was common responsibility of the Islamic and Christian bodies to pool their efforts in order to establish a climate of tolerance. Dr. Anne Mary Schemmel said it was her cherished wish for Europeans to borrow everything from Islam. She said the European civilisation owed a deep debt to Islamic civilisation as it was the essence of Islam that was translated to the Latin script. The Universities, she added, used Arab books and references until the dawn of the 17th century. (IINA)
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New Mosque for Moscow

MOSCOW : The city of Moscow received a new grand Mosque as part of the 850th anniversary of the city’s birth in the presence of a large number of city’s Muslims and foreign dignitaries. The Mufti of Moscow, Sheikh Rawil Ain al-Rahman delivered the opening address and said Muslims played a great part in making Russia a democratic country. President Boris Yeltsin sent a message of greetings.

The mayor of Moscow Yuri Lushkof promised the Muslims that another new Mosque would be built in North Western Moscow within the next two months. President of Kazakhstan, Nur Sultan Nazarbayev recalled that nearly five lakh Muslims died in the Russo-German war (1941-45).

Among the dignitaries at the occasion were Deputy Russian Prime Minister Ramadan Abdulatyof; Russian Foreign Minister Yevegeni Brimakof; Turkish religious affairs head; Nuur Al-Diin Yilmaz and President of Tartaristan Mintamin Shameve. (IINA).
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Islamic Women’s Right Meet

RABAT : Representatives from 20 member-countries participated in the conference on women’s right organised by the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (ISESCO). The conference was co-ordinated by the Tunisian Science Educational and Guidance Committee.

The conference discussed women’s rights to justice and dignity, to worship, to travel, to public education and feminine education, right to employment in keeping with the feminine role, and the right to be protected from vice. It also discussed right to financial contracts and borrowing and the right to be consulted on civil and political matters, right to choose a spouse and the right to respect and protection within marriage. (IINA)
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IDB Aid to Dhaka

JEDDAH : The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) is financing the expansion of the Islamic Science and Technology Institute in Dhaka which is a subsidiary of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC). An IDB delegation has recently visited the Institute. It recommended provision of new teaching aids and a new building for the institute.
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Metro for Damascus

DAMASCUS : The Syrian Government is planning to build an underground railway under the capital, Damascus in partnership with Metro Teheran which has participated in similar projects in several Islamic countries such as Egypt and Iran. (IINA)
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Fire-proof Tents fitted with Fire alarms

ISLAMABAD : Raja Mohammad Safarul Haq, Pakistan’s minister for religious affairs, has informed that Saudi authorities would instal fire-proof tents in Mina with automatic heat alarm system to improve facilities in Hajj 1998. In the first phase, some 10,000 tents imported from Germany and the US would be installed for four lakh pilgrims. (IINA)
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Pakistani company to lay Electric lines in Makkah

JEDDAH : A Pakistani company signed a SR 130 million contract for laying overhead transmission lines around Makkah here recently.

The 380 KV transmission line project was signed by Mahmood Taiba, member of the Shoura Council and Chairman of Electricity Department in the Western region, and Huhammad Ijaz Malik, managing director of Pakistan’s National Power.

Khan said that during the past 22 years NPCC completed 12 electricity projects for the Kingdom’s electricity projects. The company, he said, is the first to undertake the re-lying of Kuwaiti transmission lines soon after the Gulf War.

The transmission project, for which NPCC has already started the engineering survey, will be completed by the end of 1999. Some 300 Pakistani engineers, managers, line staff and technicians will soon arrive for the execution of the project, the minister added.

Khan said, “We value working in the Kingdom and with Saudi brothers, not only for commercial gain but also for our spiritual satisfaction.”

The present contract was won by NPCC in an international tender participated by some six well-known companies. (Saudi Gazette)
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Islamic capital market listing

KUALA LUMPUR : The Malaysian Securities Commission’s Shariah Advisory Council has recently issued a list of 371 Islamic acceptable stocks listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. This is the SC’s first step towards developing an Islamic capital market in the country.

The highest concentration of stocks approved by the Board were in consumer products, industrial products and plantations. Only two of the 371 stocks were in the finance sector. i.e.., Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd and Syarikat Takafol Malaysia Bhd. All stocks approved will be monitored on an ongoing basis to ensure accuracy. (Courtesy-New Horizons)
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Iran to float Islamic Bond

TEHERAN : Iran is working to develop an Islamic bond-like instrument whose returns would be backed by existing revenue producing government projects, Iran’s Central Bank governor, Mohsen Nourbakhsh, has said in an interview to the Bridge News.

Iran is working to create “government participatory paper”, something akin to bond, “which could be sold to the public”. Nourbakhsh said the plan would be discussed with the International Monetary Fund.

Legislation allowing such instrument is in its second reading before the Iranian Majlis. Iranian officials have said the participatory paper would have a built-in minimum return and forecast their appearance sometime next year (Courtesy New Horizons).
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Conference on Islamic Project Financing

KUALA LUMPUR : A regional conference on Islamic Projects Financing would be held at Renaissance Hotel here on November 18-20. It will discuss structuring of Islamic finance projects, financial risk management, effects of liberalisation, potential of such financing in small and medium industries and case studies at international level. Malaysian Deputy minister for finance Dr. Affifudin Hj Omar will present the keynote address. It is being organised by International Business Forum, Malaysian Insurance Institute and the Journal of Insurance and Risk Management. Enquiries can be made by calling or through fax at: Tel. 03-4696009, Fax: 03-4696006 in Malaysia.
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Pakistan aims at 70% Literacy

ISLAMABAD : Pakistan is planning to have 70 per cent literacy by 2002 AD through a comprehensive action plan and by enhancing the education allocation from Rs.25 billion to Rs.69 billion in the 8th five-year plan. According to Education Minister Ghous Ali Shah the annual budgetary allocation has been increased from 2.01 per cent to 2.56 per cent. Under the National Education Policy 1992, the government has targeted at providing 100 per cent education for children between 5 and 9. Girls education is specially targeted with 70 per cent new schools with female teachers and 60 per cent seats allocated for girls.
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Geneva Islamic Funds Lure over $100 million

By Elif Kaban

GENEVA: Leading Geneva private bank, Pictet & Cie has captured more than $ 100 million in new Islamic funds with a new asset management joint venture targeting wealthy Muslims since it was set up in June, a bank official said.

Kamran Amouzegar, in charge of the bank’s Middle Eastern business, said the new 50-50 owned venture with Kuwait-based Islamic finance company The International investor has seen big demand from Asian and Middle Eastern clients so far.

The joint venture "Al-Bait", the first of its kind in Geneva’s crowded private banking, will offer tailored services to Islamic clients in the Gulf and elsewhere. It is launching four open-ended mutual funds for Islamic clients to invest mainly in equities, a global fund, a fund for European equities, one for East Europe and another that will include leasing and cash management.

"We have already got more than 100 million dollars for these four funds. We have not even started marketing the funds but we have already got commitments," Amouzegar told reuters.

The joint venture targets a $500 million share of the market for Islamic funds.

Growth in Middle Eastern money flow to Switzerland has slowed down considerably and tough competition in Geneva is forcing many banks to seek new niches, bankers say.

"Al-bait" will adhere to the principles of Islamic Shariah law and rule itself out of the banking sector because Islam disallows interest-the core of the Western banking system.

Its Shariah board will approve the stocks, eschewing investments in makers of beer, alcoholic drinks and products that violate Islamic rules.

Amouzegar declined to give details on how the funds would pick shares and which markets and stocks they would buy.
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Islamic Banking Seminar in Bahrain

MANAMAH : Bahrain will host for the first time the annual conference of Islamic Banks and Islamic investment institutions on December 8-10. This will be the fourth such seminar. It will discuss the increasing role of Islamic banks in financing infrastructure projects around the world. The latest banking technologies and the investment opportunities available in developing Islamic markets will also be analysed. Islamic Banks are looking forward to financing large scale projects worth US $ 250 billion over the next two years including expanding Qatari gas fields and the building of Kuala Lumpur new airport. (IINA)
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