ICC Banking Commission Meeting to Open in Doha Next Sunday

Doha, March 20 (QNA) The International Chamber of Commerce Qatar (ICC Qatar ) on Tuesday announced the sponsors for the biannual ICC Banking Commission Meeting, which is set to be held in Doha next Sunday March 25 and continues to 29 March,2012. The event will be held at the La Cigale Hotel under the theme of "Reframing the Future of Trade Finance" and is to be attended by leading bankers and finance and economy experts representing more than 50 country. This came in a press conference held here today where QNB has signed on as the Diamond Sponsor of the Banking Commission Meeting and is also supporting the Arbitration and Banking Summit. The Commercial bank is the Gold Sponsor, while Doha Bank, HSBC and State Bank of India are the Silver Sponsors of the Commission Meeting. McNairs Chambers has extended its support in the form of a Strategic Sponsor for the Arbitration Summit. "The biannual ICC Banking Commission Meeting opens new frontiers for Qatar in reaching out to the world and help in reshaping the policy agenda. Middle East and North Africa boasts tremendous potential, especially in light of the recent changes in countries across the region," said ICC-Qatar CEO and Qatar Chamber of Commerce & Industry CEO, Remy Rowhani. "We appreciate our sponsors for their association with this high-level meeting. We are confident that these partnerships will be very successful," added Rowhani. The meeting is designed to take stock of the current volatile economic climate, and features recent ICC market intelligence on trade finance, as well as discussions on ICC works-in-progress, such as the International Standard Banking Practice revision, the drafting of Bank Payment Obligation and forfeiting rules and a review of Basel III. The sponsorship list, featuring Qatar s top financial institutions, is reflective of ICC Qatar s efforts in making one of the industry s foremost events a tremendous success, as well as emphasizes the sponsors intention to positively contribute to Qatar s growing influence on the international channels of engagement. Separately, a special Arbitration Summit is scheduled to be held on the final day of the event. For his part, Salem Al- Naimi, AGM Corporate Relations, Group Communications at QNB commented: "QNB is proud to be the diamond sponsor of this important summit that aims to "Reframe the Future of Trade Finance" and will also address the key issues arising from the current global economic climate. "We hope that these meetings will shed more light on ways to stimulate the trade finance market in innovative ways that can eliminate barriers to trade and investment for the benefit of countries and people all over the globe." Senior officials from the other sponsoring organizations also spoke briefly about their support of the important event and signaled out the exciting opportunities that exist for further collaboration between them and ICC-Qatar at the press conference yesterday. "Our sponsorship of the biannual ICC Banking Commission is testament to Commercial bank s commitment to the development of Qatar as a global business and banking hub. The framework of this year s meeting will enable Qatar to develop a world-class regulatory infrastructure to cater to the requirements of the growing financial and professional services community'', said Al- Naimi. Meanwhile Fahad Badar, Executive General Manager, Government & International Banking, Commercial bank sid, "We are proud to be part of such an important agenda and hope the outcomes are beneficial for the sector in the near term." Commenting on the Arbitration Summit, was Khawar Qureshi, QC Head of McNair Chambers, "We are delighted to sponsor this event which will add greater focus to the importance of arbitration for the business community." Farhan Zaidi, Senior Manager Trade and Supply Chain at HSBC in Qatar, expressed the importance of sponsoring such meetings. "HSBC is honoured to be part of this extremely valuable event and we thank ICC Qatar for this opportunity. HSBC was founded on trade and building relationships to help people do business around the world. Today, we have over 43,000 trade customers in the MENA region, who benefit from our extensive global reach and connectivity, as businesses are increasingly engaging in cross border activity," he said. Speaking on behalf of State Bank of India (SBI) was Satyajit Pratap, CEO of SBI- QFC Branch: "State Bank of India has 170 foreign offices in 34 countries and it believes in integrating its banking business model with local business requirements. We believe that by being associated with Qatar Chamber of Commerce &Industry, SBI with its vast banking knowledge will be able to add value to the vastly expanding Qatari horizons." International speakers and panelists at the Doha meeting include Neil Esho of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, and Akshay Randeva, Director Strategic Development of Qatar Financial Center, as well as representatives from The World Bank, International Finance Corporation, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Asian Development Bank and International Monetary Fund. (QNA)