The Gulf has the world's largest concentration of millionaires in the world so you can see why fund managers across the globe are taking a long, hard look at us.

That was the message Economic Development Board (EDB) chief executive officer Shaikh Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa had for delegates at the opening session of the 4th Annual Fund Forum Middle East at the Diplomat Hotel yesterday.

'This is the right time and the right place for fund managers who want new ways to generate better returns,' he said.

'Some of this will already be familiar to you - but what you might not know is the role that we in Bahrain can play in helping you gain access to these opportunities.

'For a start, we're a regional expert when it comes to fund management.

'We have had a financial centre in Bahrain for over four decades, and a fund industry since the 1980s.

'So when challenges come along we know we have the track record and experience to deal with them.'

'When you've been around for more than 40 years, the bumps on the road are easier to negotiate, because you've dealt with them before,' he said.

'People can feel more secure when they know your reaction will be considered and measured,' Shaikh Mohammed said.

He said Bahrain can offer more than just conventional finance.

'We might be a small country, but only Malaysia ranks alongside us as an international hub of Islamic finance.

'We have the largest concentration of Islamic financial institutions in the world and we are home to many of the bodies that set the standards for the industry across the globe,' the EDB chief said.

Shaikh Mohammed said in a world that is still recovering from the effects of Madoff and sub-prime mortgages and companies that borrowed recklessly, it is perhaps reassuring to have a jurisdiction that puts ethics first.

'We have advised more than 30 other countries on Islamic finance and not all of them are Muslim. This form of ethical investment is not restricted to the Islamic world

'That people from across the world are taking an interest in Islamic finance should not come as a surprise.

'Just recently, Ernst & Young published an estimate that between $360 billion and $480 billion of individual and institutional savings are available to the Islamic fund industry

'Given that the global Islamic funds industry currently only has about $50 billion of assets under management, you can see why people are seeing such potential for growth

'So through our leadership in Islamic finance, our regulation and our focus on fund management, our aim is to make Bahrain the best possible gateway to the opportunities that the trillion dollar Gulf has to offer,' he said.