Third Islamic Real Estate Finance Middle East conference opens today

Meshal Al Ameri, CEO, Sukuk Real Estate Development CO., participated in the opening session titled "Global real estate trends". Jueurgen Fenk, Managing Director and member of Board Hypo Real Estate Bank international, and Prof. Richarm Burdett, Centennial Professor in Architecture and Urbanism, Mayor of London's Adviser on Architecture, were also among the main speakers at the inaugural session.

Duncan Smith, Head ABCIB Islamic Asset Management, spoke about investment in the City of London at the first session that was held under the title "The UK and Europe: Optimising Returns on Investment". Mr. Timothy Garnham, Group Development Director, Minerva PLC, also presented a case study on the issues of Pan/European Real Estate Funds, while Muneer Khan, Norton Rose, and Rachel Tan, DTZ, spoke about the competition challenges facing Central and Eastern European markets from one another as well as from an expanding European Union.

The second session was held under the title " The USA & North America: The US Economy in 2005 - Challenges and Opportunities". Rakesh Patnaik, Senior Investment Manager Investment Funds (Real Estate), Global Investment House, discussed the effects of US economic growth on the commercial real estate. He spoke about the Challenges faced by Shariah compliant real estate while investing in the US and North America. David Loundy, Devon Bank, highlighted the importance of Islamic Home finance, and spoke about the Islamic Commercial Real Estate Developments in the USA.

The third session featured discussions on the Asian market and the opportunities offered by the real estate market in Japan. Mr. Mikihisa Hirai, President, Atlas Partners Japan, said: "Japan has become a market attracting both domestic and international investors from US, Europe, Asia, and Middle East."

Dhafer Al-Qahtani, General Manager, Al-Tawfeek, spoke on they structuring of Shariah Compliant Real Estate Fund at the fourth session titled "Tax efficiency and Legal Documentation Issues", while Hamid Yunis, Partner, Taylor Wessing, discussed the efficient structuring of Shariah Compliant Tax.

The first day was concluded by a featured Focus Panel Discussion titled " Proliferation of Islamic Mortgages: a global Perspective". Richard Thomas, ABCIB Islamic Asset Management, spoke about the UK & Europe markets; Murtada Khidir Mohd Abuzaid, Head of Finance, Amlak spoke about the UAE market; Nasser Nubani, General Council, Capitas, discussed the the development and current state of the market for Islamic Mortgages in the United States; and Daud Bakar, Shariah Scholar, spoke about the real estate sector in the Malaysian market.