With a projected spend of whopping $100bn on investment and infrastructure projects by 2012, Qatar is leading the way in the region's project finance transactions growth. On the backdrop huge opportunities emerging across several sectors as a result, Qatar is to host the 3rd Annual World Islamic Infrastructure Finance Conference (WIIFC) focusing on innovations in Islamic project finance. The conference which will put emphasis on new insights into the latest mechanism for financing complex transaction will see some unprecedented line-up of outstanding speakers from the Middle East, Europe, North America and Asia to discuss the growth potential of Islamic finance and the next wave of mega-deals. Building on the success of last year's conference WIIFC 2008 to be held on October 28 at Doha Intercontinental Hotel will gather more than 250 international decision-makers including bankers, investors, project financiers and asset managers as well as developers representing key industry sectors such as real estate, oil and gas, telecommunications, power and water. WIIFC 2008 will tackle key issues related to the growing requirements for infrastructure finance and tap into the enormous opportunities in this booming market, tackling challenges such as the credit crunch and the complex structuring of large project finance deals. The surge in development needs all over the GCC has paved the way for the growth of a number of new project financing trends. While in the past most of the finance has been arranged on a conventional basis, increasingly the market is seeing growth in the role that Islamic finance plays in major projects. The 3rd WIIFC will bring together investors, project developers, conventional and Islamic financial institutions with key Government agencies in order to fast-track infrastructure development, and provide new insights into the latest mechanisms for financing complex transactions. Product innovation and the next generation of Islamic finance solutions is one of the topics to be presented at one of the conference's sessions with discussions focusing on such points as partnering with conventional financial institutions to mobile infrastructure finance. Key discussion points in another session will center on tapping into the growing market of Shariah compliant funds as a source of infrastructure investment and using Sukuk for project financing. The Pen

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