EVENTS - Northern Cyprus to host Islamic Development Bank's forum

www.worldbulletin.net - The forum is important to introduce investment potential of TRNC to foreign investors.

Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) will host a forum on "Investment in Northern Cyprus" which will be organized by Islamic Development Bank on Thursday.

TRNC Foreign Minister Huseyin Ozgurgun told AA on Wednesday that nearly 2,000 businessmen would arrive in TRNC tomorrow within the scope of the forum which would end on April 13.  (source)

HALAL - Turkey eyes greater share of pie in global halal market

The size of the total global halal products market ranges from $1.2 trillion to $2 trillion per annum, according to industry experts. Turkey currently only has a small share of the pie, but it hopes to become one of the leading actors in the sector. (full story)

FINANCE - ECONOMY - Ergun calls on Saudi firms to prefer Turkey instead of China (finance included)

Ergun called on Saudi companies to prefer Turkey instead of China, Japan and United States.

Turkish Industry & Trade Minister Nihat Ergun, who is in Saudi Arabia for talks, addressed Saturday top executives of Saudi companies that control $300 billion and urged better commercial ties with Turkish companies.

"Economic relations between Turkey and Saudi Arabia is not at a desired level. Our trade volume in 2002 was $1.3 billion. In 2010, it reached $4.6 billion. However, it is not possible to economically explain such a low trade between two large G20 economies," Ergun said. (source)

FINANCE - OIC chief calls for pan-Islamic economic integration

Regional groupings are building blocks for a pan-Islamic economic integration, according to Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary-General of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC).

A source at the OIC headquarters here informed Khaleej Times on Thursday that addressing the Twenty-Sixth Session of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the OIC (COMCEC) in Istanbul, Ihsanoglu urged OIC member states to consider supporting the numerous capacity-building programmes undertaken by the various OIC institutions as this will certainly pave the way for aligning national trade policies to enhance intra-OIC cooperation in the domain of trade.