At AAOIFI’s premises, in Kingdom of Bahrain, Islamic Bank of Afghanistan has been officially admitted as institutional member of AAOIFI, on a signing ceremony, chaired by H.E. Shaikh Ebrahim bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Chairman of AAOIFI’s Board of Trustees, and H.E. Amer Khalil ur Rahman, Chief Executive Officer, Islamic Bank of Afghanistan (IBA).

In this regard, H.E Shaikh Ebrahim bin Khalifa Al Khalifa stated: “we are immensely pleased to have IBA as an institutional member of AAOIFI, especially that IBA is the first Afghani institution to gain AAOIFI’s membership. And we hope that this remarkable step will usher in further levels of harmonization and standardization across the Islamic finance industry, particularly in view of the Central Bank of Afghanistan’s adoption of AAOIFI standards on a mandatory basis. No doubt, this will help expand the industry both at national and international levels.” He also emphasized on the importance of Afghanistan as a country to the broader Muslim community, the strong connection of Muslim population of Afghanistan with Islamic faith, and the great potential of all these realities for Islamic finance.

H.E Amer Khalil ur Rahman also stated: “AAOIFI is a leading standard setter for the Islamic finance industry worldwide, and we are glad to have established such professional ties therewith. We hope that more will be achieved in the near future, capitalizing on AAOIFI’s expertise and global status”. He also cited that IBA will use AAOIFI’s standards as underpinnings for its banking operations and transactions, towards higher levels of growth and expansion.

During the visit, Mr. Omar Mustafa Ansari, AAOIFI’s Acting Secretary General, delivered a detailed overview on AAOIFI’s recent activities and achievements as well as the all-important role assumed by AAOIFI as a standard setter, including the mechanism it follows in developing its standards, and the on-going projects, in addition to the potential areas of cooperation between the two institutions at various levels.