(Sukuk.net - Qatar News Agency) Indonesia will host the World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF) on March 1-4, and the event will focus on food security, energy and the financial crisis, according to the state-run news agency, Antara on Friday.

Antara quoted Deputy Chairman of Indonesia's Regional Representatives Council Irman Gusman, who is also Chairman of the WIEF Steering Committee, as saying, "This forum is of vitally importance because Islamic countries, particularly those in the Middle East, are no longer backward."

He said that countries in the Middle East had surplus funds amounting to USD 1.5 trillion which were deposited in the Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF).

"SWF was set up as a state-owned financial institution to serve as an investment instrument overseas," he said adding that other countries like Singapore, Malaysia and China had also set up similar funding facilities," Gusman said.

Indonesia is expected to take advantage of the SWF to face the world economic crisis by asking owners of the surplus funds to invest in Indonesia. "We can take the advantage of the Beijing-Dubai-New Delhi axis. Here lies our future," he said.

He said that at present China, India and the Middle East were now leading the front line
in settling the global economic problem.
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