KUCHING: A total of 2,476 business people from 75 count r ies have registered for the 13th World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF). 1,500 of them are from outside of Sarawak and 500 are foreign participants. The largest participation is from Indonesia.
Chairman of WIEF, Tun Musa Hitam disclosed that even though the number was comparatively smaller than the previous WIEF, it did not mean the quality of the forum was lesser than the earlier ones.
Last year, WIEF was held in Jakarta, Indonesia where the forum recorded its largest participation to date with more than 4,000 participants. “As a practice of WIEF every year, our business is not to close deals but signing of Memoranda of Understanding (MoU). “This year, 16 MoU will be signed between Malaysia’s different companies with different countries,” said Musa.
Apart from the forum, there will also be booths open at the venue, with 38 of them in total put up by seven countries. He also disclosed that there are a total of 215 members of the media that will be covering the forum, 35 of them being media outlets from overseas. Also speaking was the Co- Chairman of WIEF, Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan who told the delegates present during the welcoming dinner, to explore Sarawak thoroughly.
“Spend some time and taste our local del icacies such as Sarawak Laksa, Kolok Mee, Kek Lapis and do visit our heritage site such as Gunung Mulu National Park which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site,” said Tengah.
