Manama, Bahrain: 14th May 2012
Opening Address by: Mr. A. Rahman Al-Baker, Executive Director of Financial Institutions Supervision, Central Bank of Bahrain
Your Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen - Good Morning.
I am honoured to be here today to speak to you at this seminar in a
spirit of partnership and brotherhood. Our two nations are both very
similar and yet hugely different. We are both identified as Muslim
nations, and yet we both have other religious groups existing alongside
the Muslim majority. Indonesia is a vast nation, with a population in
excess of 238 million people, whilst Bahrain has a population of only
just over 1 million people. Indonesia is a founder member of ASEAN (the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations), as Bahrain is a founder
member of the GCC. These are both major economic blocs within their
regions. Within ASEAN, Indonesia is the largest country by population
and GDP. Within the GCC, Bahrain is the home of modern Islamic banking
and finance. (source)
