During October 3-5 Samara hosted an international economic forum Volga Investment Summit & World Halal Day. It was attended by about 550 participants from 16 countries.

The purpose of the Volga investment summit and World Halal Day was to exchange expert opinions on the latest trends in financial and investment sectors, to establish contacts between investors and project founders, expand and support the community of entrepreneurs, professional investors and experts in the field of islamic finance.
The opening of the business part of the forum program was attended by the Governor of Samara region Dmitry Azarov, Founder and Chairman of World Halal Day Mohamed Jinna, President of the International Association of Islamic Business Marat Kabayev, Russian and foreign investors, experts, government, business and financial sector representatives.

There is a reason why Samara region was chosen as a venue for the world investment forum: the region has 135 trade partner countries, it is in the TOP 10 largest economies of Russia, it has a huge scientific and industrial potential-more than 200 enterprises with foreign participation operate in the region, the largest non-capital Samara-Togliatti agglomeration and a scientific- educational center are developing.
Opening the forum the Governor noted that Samara region was the first region in Russia to host this international business forum. “We are very proud that such a significant event is taking place in Russia, in Samara”.
The founder of World Halal Day Mohamed expressed confidence that the forum will contribute to the development of the halal industry throughout Russia and attract large investments, including the regional economy. He also noted the need for the business community to work with islamic banking.
Marat Kabayev noted the need to create a single model of certification of products according to halal standards. The President of International Islamic Business Association stressed: “This is one of the main conditions for attracting investments and entering international markets”.
The Head of Samara representative office of the Russia-Singapore Business Council Maxim Bagaev took part in the panel discussion “Effective export instruments” and made presentation on “RSBC : export support instruments in the Asia-Pacific region”. Special interest of participants was caused by the tools of automatization of “contract manufacturing” and international logistics provided by e-platform RSTrade (www.rstradehouse.com) – LLC RSTradehouse is an operator of the executive structure of the Council – and projects implemented and supported by the Center for promotion of Russian high-tech companies and presentation of investment projects opened on the initiative of the Council in Singapore.
With the support of Samara representative office of the RSBC on the sidelines of the summit, the Council member – Samara State Medical University – held talks with the Founder and Chairman of the World Halal Day Mohamed Jinnah on the directions and prospects of export to the Asia-Pacific countries of high-tech products developed by the Samara Medical University for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases.