CIEF Holds Conference on Islamic Finance and Economics in Madrid

HRH Prince Saud ibn Naif ibn Abdulaziz, Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Spain, attended an international conference held in Madrid by the KAU Center for Islamic Economics and Finance (CIEF) in association with the IE University.

"Beyond the Crisis: Islamic Finance in the New Financial Order" was the theme of the conference, which was staged as part of efforts to promote Islamic banking and finance in Spain and Europe.

The opening ceremony of the conference took place at the Madrid Stock Exchange in the presence of Rafael Puyol Antolin, President of IE University, and Jose Luis Estevez, Director of CIEF at the IE University, in addition to the representative of the Spanish government and Dr Ahmed H. Nagadi, KAU Vice President for Business and Knowledge Creativity.

Prince Saud asserted the strong relations between Saudi Arabia and Spain and the role of the conference in improving cooperation between business and academic institutions in the two countries.

He also hailed KAU's efforts towards sponsoring the conference and establishing a CIEF at the IE Business School.

The event witnessed a series of workshops on the role the Islamic finance and economics could play to solve the current international financial crisis as opposed to the conventional financial systems.

Prof Mohammed O. Shabra, recipient of King Faisal International Award, and Dr Mohammed A. Al-Gari led workshops with two IE University experts.

The CIEF at IE Business School was established last year by KAU with the aim of conducting specialized courses to promote the Islamic banking and finance in Spain and Europe.

KAU will continue providing the IE Center with qualified teachers for the purpose.