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Bank Negara Malaysia Governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz today introduced the First Holder of INCEIF Chair of Islamic Finance, Dr Abbas Mirakhor.

Dr Abbas joins INCEIF following a long and distinguished career as an economist and academician with considerable contribution in the field of Islamic economics, finance and banking.

Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz giving welcoming remarks at the Lecture.

Dr Abbas is a graduate of the Kansas State University, USA, where he received his Bachelor, Master and PhD Degrees in Economics. In 1968, he started his academic career with University of Alabama, USA. With the exception of a 2-year stint at the AzZahara University in Tehran, Iran, throughout his academic career, Dr Abbas has worked as a Professor of Economics at the University of Alabama, Alabama A&M University, and the Florida Institute of Technology. In 1984, he joined the IMF in Washington DC as an economist. He spent 24 years with the IMF, serving as the organisation's Executive Director and Dean of the Executive Board, retiring in 2008.

Prof Dr Abbas delivering his lecture.

Dr Abbas was conferred the "Order of Companion of Volta" for service to Ghana by the President of Ghana in 2005. In 2003, he received the Islamic Development Bank Annual Prize for Research in Islamic Economics, which he shared with Dr Mohsin Khan, another well-known economist at IMF. The President of Pakistan conferred him the "Quaid-e Azam" star for service to Pakistan in 1997. He has published books, papers and research articles on a wide range of areas including microeconomic theory, mathematical economics and Islamic economics.

The appointment of an internationally known personality of Dr Abbas's stature as the inaugural Holder of INCEIF Chair of Islamic Finance would hopefully expedite the entry of INCEIF, a young institution, in the global world of Islamic finance and promote INCEIF's credibility as a world class university dedicated to Islamic finance.

Dr Abbas will also provide leadership in research and consultancy leading towards seminal publications on Islamic finance, assist in academic research and supervise dissertations and theses by INCEIF students. He will also present lectures abroad on behalf of INCEIF as part of the efforts to promote INCEIF and its programmes.

The objective of the INCEIF Public Lecture is to provide a forum for disseminating information on the state of Islamic finance today and promote intellectual discussions between academia, regulators and industry practitioners. It is also hoped that by having international luminaries to be the Holder of INCEIF Chair of Islamic Finance will raise INCEIF's profile as a leading institution in providing Islamic finance education in the world. Today's gathering marks the first of such Lecture Series.