Friday 27 / February / 2026
Muscat: A public lecture focused on raising awareness on the role of Islamic finance in promoting sustainable development and falls into CIBAFI’s 3rd Strategic Objective: Awareness and Information Sharing.
The talk on ‘UN Sustainable Development Goals and the role of Islamic Finance’ was held at University of Ez-Zitouna, in Tunis, Tunisia, by the General Council for Islamic Banks and Financial Institutions (CIBAFI).
The lecture at University of Ez-Zitouna was an opportunity for CIBAFI to engage with academia and young students to discuss the role that Islamic finance plays in promoting sustainable development. Growing impressively in recent years, Islamic Finance has doubled in size almost every five years and is expected to reach $4 trillion by the end of 2020. The growth of Islamic finance has benefited from the increased interest that has been recently shown to ethical and sustainable finances due to their responsible values and their resilience in times of crisis.
“Since the 2007-2008 global financial crisis, there has been a greater interest in ethical finance because of its responsible values and its role in promoting social inclusion, sustainable development and the development of social economy and social entrepreneurship,” Abdelilah Belatik, Secretary General of CIBAFI, said.
“Today, the financial architecture is in a remodeling phase where a growing interest is shown to responsible modes of finance such as Islamic, ethical and sustainable finance,” he added.
This public lecture took a close look at Islamic Finance in today's global economy. The lecture has also highlighted a spotlight on the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals.
This initiative is part of CIBAFI’s strategic objective of promoting awareness and information sharing. In addition to raising awareness, CIBAFI continues to support the Islamic financial services industry through various activities and initiatives. These include policy and regulatory advocacy work, providing industry stakeholders with a platform to discuss emerging issues, representing the industry at major global financial events, and sharing knowledge through specialised publications.
