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The Lord Mayor of the City of London, Ian Luder, today visited the Dubai International Financial Centre where he held discussions with senior officials on a wide range of topics including the current global economic crisis, Islamic Finance and the potential for close interaction and cooperation between the City of London and the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).
Nasser Al Shaali, Chief Executive Officer of the DIFC Authority said: “Our meeting with the Lord Mayor of the City of London was an opportunity to discuss the significant opportunities for cooperation between the financial industries of UK and the UAE. As the global economy goes through a challenging period, the world’s leading financial centres should work together to find solutions for easing the impact of the crisis. Both our financial hubs have gained considerable knowledge and expertise in the course of their development and both DIFC and the City of London can work together to use this knowledge for the development of key financial sectors in which we have a mutual interest, especially Islamic finance.”
The Lord Mayor, later, spoke to the students of Cass Business School’s Executive MBA in DIFC about the growing role of Islamic Finance in the Western banking world.
The annually-elected Lord Mayor is the head of the City of London Corporation and acts as ambassador for the UK-financial services industry, typically spending three months a year leading City business delegations overseas and meeting leading overseas politicians and business leaders visiting London. The Lord Mayor is also Chancellor of City University, the parent organisation of Cass Business School.
Richard Gillingwater, Dean of Cass Business School, said: “We are proud to have the Lord Mayor as the Chancellor of our University and we are honoured that he has addressed our Executive MBA students in Dubai. The Lord Mayor’s role as ambassador for the UK’s financial services industry is more important than ever in these challenging economic times. I am sure that his insights will be particularly valuable to the Cass students.”
Cass Business School has offered a Dubai-based Executive MBA (EMBA) programme since 2007 in partnership with the DIFC Centre of Excellence and classes are held at the latter’s new state-of-the-art headquarters here.
