Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance (BIBF), in partnership with DinarStandard, is launching the world's first training programme on the Convergence of the Halal Market Economy and Islamic Capital next month.

The course is scheduled to be held on June 7 and 8 at BIBF, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

DinarStandard, a New York-based growth strategy research and advisory firm with core experiences in Halal economy sectors, will conduct the training course on the convergence of Islamic capital and Halal food and Muslim lifestyle sectors.

The burgeoning Halal food and Muslim Lifestyle sectors is estimated to be worth $2 trillion in 2013, and is expected to reach $2.47 trillion by 2018, based on the State of the Global Islamic Economy 2014 report, produced by Thomson Reuters in collaboration with DinarStandard.

This represents a huge opportunity for Islamic finance, which has been for the most part untapped.

"Bahrain is well positioned to leverage its positioning as a regional financial hub with a well-developed banking sector and a growing Islamic finance industry to create an impact in the Halal economy sectors, especially given that it has a well-diversified economy that does not heavily rely on the oil and gas sector," said BIBF deputy director Dr Ahmed Al Shaikh.

"Finance, tourism and industrial manufacturing play a strong role in its economy.

With growing competitiveness from the region, a key growth opportunity for its already robust Islamic finance sector, is the emerging global Halal economy space."

The "Convergence of Halal Market Economy and Islamic Capital" training course is a managerial level one, tailored for Islamic finance and takaful executives and managers and lifestyle sector executives, managers and students.

The course will give participants a summary of the Halal market opportunity and focus on specific areas of financing/ takaful needs and gaps by the key Halal economy sectors of food, pharma, personal care, travel and fashion.

Specific focus will be on the Halal food value chain opportunities.

The course covers the six-core Halal economy sectors beyond Islamic finance.

These sectors covered include Halal food, family tourism, clothing/fashion, media/recreation, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics, and outlines their geographic and market potential profile. - TradeArabia News Service