On behalf of Salaam Group and Waafi Bank we congratulate Dr Slim Feriani and the Djibouti SWF team as well as Omar benYedder and the IC Publications team for their brilliant organisation of the very 1st Djibouti Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) Conference which was held on the 13th & 14th of May 2024 at the brand new Ayla Hotel in Djibouti. 

It was a privilege for Waafi Bank to have our Chairman, Dr Ashraf Iqbal speak at 2 sessions during the conference. In his sessions he touched on Malaysia’s growth trajectory, the perils of funding long term development projects with short term bank deposit, the need for the development of capital markets to spur development and how Islamic Finance is able to help deliver equitable growth. Underpinning all of this, he reiterated the critical role that SWF’s played in Malaysia’s development. 

Dr Ashraf is a firm believer in and an advocate of the Latent Potential that Djibouti has. As such, he ended with a reflective challenge to the audience, taking Iceland as an example. While Iceland and Djibouti have many geological similarities, in terms of geographical comparative advantage, Djibouti surpasses Iceland on all counts. Despite its isolation and limitations, Iceland took only 10 years to grow its GDP per capital from USD3,252 (1971) to USD15,137 (1981) and then another 40 years to USD68,710 (2021). Therefore, there is every reason for Djibouti, spearheaded by its SWF, to be able to do better and in a shorter period of time. 

Waafi Bank extends it thanks to Dr Qalib Daqane and Farhan Noor for their support in preparing for and through the event. 

We look forward to the next SWF conference.