ASIATODAY.ID, JAKARTA – Investors from member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), including Indonesia, are expected to be involved in forming a special stock exchange market in Russia.
In early 2025, there was an issue of the Russian parliament’s plan to extend the three-year experiment related to the successful partnership financing experiment in most regions of the Russian Federation, as well as expanding the list of transactions permitted according to sharia norms.
“Including the possibility of joint insurance of property interests,” said Head of the Investment Development Agency of the Republic of Tatarstan (one of the four regions of the Federation where the experiment is taking place) Taliya Minullina in an official statement, in Jakarta, Tuesday, March 18, 2025.
This new mechanism aims to attract investment from Islamic countries which are planned to be tested to be expanded and extended until the fall of 2028. The changes are expected to increase the attractiveness of partnership financing instruments, including for investors from OIC countries.
“The volume of Islamic banking operations more than doubled last year. The experiment is developing rapidly and over time may become a permanent practice in the future. Overall, the expected amount of investments in Russian projects through Islamic financing formats is estimated at more than $10 billion. In the next two years, experts predict an even greater increase, about tenfold in this area,” Taliya added.
In order to cooperate with investors from the OIC countries, she continued, it is very important to form a special stock exchange market in Russia, so that large economic players can enter the market and issue various instruments with different focuses within the framework of current Russian legislation.
When this mechanism starts working, she said that clear standards will be established and there will be more capital investments.
In order to develop a new investment market in the territory of the Russian Federation, training of specialists (financiers, lawyers, managers) has been intensively carried out in accordance with the standards of the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) based in Bahrain.
“The goal of AAOIFI is to maintain and promote the Sharia standards of Islamic financial institutions. At present, such work is rapidly increasing in Russia and a fully halal investment platform is being prepared for launch. It will comply with AAOIFI standards and be managed by Islamic finance experts,” Taliya said.
Furthermore, the project is being implemented jointly with two Arab funding sources and is aimed at financing promising startups in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Those interested in investing are said to be able to get a share of future profits in accordance with sharia principles, and business actors can attract partner funds and issue Islamic bonds equivalent to sukuk. The platform is currently in the registration process with a full launch planned for May 2025.
Along with the launch, AAOIFI will organize the first international conference in the Russian Federation on the topic: “Islamic Finance and Investment: Promoting Sustainable Development and Global Partnership” within the framework of the Kazan Forum 2025.
According to Taliya, the development of Islamic finance will also have a positive impact on international trade.
Russia’s trade turnover with Islamic countries for the first 9 months of 2024 reached US$106 billion. Of this amount, US$5.9 billion came from the Russian Tatarstan region, where the most active experiment in the use of Islamic finance has become the leader in the Russian Federation in terms of the volume of partner financing transactions.
This means that this region is considered to be able to become a bridge between Russia and the OIC countries.
“Over the past two to three years, not only the trade turnover figures have increased, but also the number of transactions between Russia and the OIC countries. First of all, it is Turkey, the UAE (United Arab Emirates), the Persian Gulf countries, as well as Malaysia and Indonesia,” said Secretary General of the General Council for Islamic Banks and Financial Institutions (CIBAFI) Abdelilah Belatik.
Further development of the Islamic economy in the Russian Federation is expected to soon bring economic relations with the countries of the south-south to a new level.
As the world leader in the number of Muslims, Indonesia is considered to be one of the leading participants in this new market developing the halal economy sector.
“It is clear that Islamic finance will also be in demand in relations with Russia, where there are more than 20 million Muslims. One of the promising areas of cooperation is trade. In 2025, the signing of a free trade zone agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and Indonesia is expected,” he said.
Some new areas for future Islamic economic cooperation include joint investments involving Islamic economic mechanisms in the assets of Russian and foreign companies, the halal industry, the development of a halal lifestyle, and cooperation in the fields of medicine and education. (AT Network)
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