Abdullah Saleh Kamel, chairman of the Board of Trustees of Al-Baraka Islamic Economic Forum (AIEF), announced the launch of the Saleh Abdullah Kamel Award for Islamic Economics. He said that the award aims to recognize and honor the outstanding contributions of innovators in Islamic economics. Addressing the 42nd symposium of AIEF, which started in Madinah on Wednesday, Abdullah Kamel said the award will be presented in four categories for both individuals and organizations. He called on institutions and individuals to take advantage of the award as a real catalyst for developing their research and studies in the four tracks of the award. The symposium with the theme of “Envisioning the future of the digital economy ,” is being held under the aegis of Prince Saud Bin Khaled Al-Faisal, deputy emir of Madinah. Several prominent experts and specialists in the fields of economy, finance and investment are taking part in the event. In his opening speech, Abdullah Kamel said that Saudi Arabia was making significant headway in becoming the world’s leading center for Islamic finance. He traced the history of AIEF to its founder Sheikh Saleh Kamel 42 years ago. Abdullah Kamel hailed the ambitious strategy launched by Saudi Arabia to make the Kingdom a global center for Islamic finance. “This is in line with the growing significance of the Saudi market globally in various fields of Islamic finance,” he said. Addressing the event, Dr. Fahad Aldossari, deputy governor of the Saudi Central Bank for research and international affairs, said that the global Islamic financial industry was amounted to $2.7 trillion, while its assets in the Kingdom were approximately SR3 trillion. He noted that this sector is still witnessing rapid growth in the Kingdom, at an annual rate of 18 percent.