Azerbaijan, Baku, June 21 / Trend, I. Khalilova /
Azerbaijan has been working intensely to develop the financial services industry in recent years and tremendous success has been made, Islamic Development Bank (IDB) President Ahmad Mohammad Ali said at the Fifth IDB Islamic Finance Global Forum on "Global Stability on the Route to Integration" in Baku.
"We see that the Islamic financial system has helped us to withstand the global financial crisis," he said, adding that the forum provides an excellent opportunity to spread the principles of Islamic banking across the world.
"The Islamic banking system offers an alternative that offers greater stability in financing projects at the international level," Ali said. "The global financial crisis has led to a great confrontation between developed and developing countries. While considering this issue, we came to the conclusion that the only way out of this situation is to push more intensive development."
Meanwhile, the IDB president suggested conducting financial operations and introducing Islamic financial system regulations based on Sharia law at the highest economic level.
"Our task is to make a more flexible approach to financial issues," Ali said. "We must assess what we have done and develop a future strategy that will ensure the financial sector's stability."
Islamic finance, in his view, provides an advantage to developing financial systems. Ali stressed that developing countries should consider a new financial approach - mixing both the Islamic and traditional financial systems.
"I am not calling for a complete transfer to the Islamic system because this would require great effort and coordination, but the the application of certain rules would surely bring sound results. This was confirmed at the G20 meeting," he said.