The US Treasury Department is looking into the important features of Islamic banking that might help in tackling the current financial crisis, Robert M. Kimmitt, the visiting Deputy Secretary of the Department of Treasury, told a press conference at the US Embassy here on Saturday in the presence of US Ambassador to the Kingdom Ford M. Fraker. Kimmitt, who served as managing director of the collapsed Lehman Brothers empire from 1993 to 1997, is on a tour of the region to offer the US perspective of the financial crisis and to hear the views of others. He arrived in Riyadh on Friday and is scheduled to also visit the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Iraq. “Our experts in the Treasury Department have been learning about the important features of Islamic banking. I would say for the global (financial) crisis that we now face, I think the real focus has been on the government side in the activities between and among central banks, between and among finance ministries,” he said. As the Islamic banking system has so far managed to steer clear of the global financial turmoil, Kimmitt said “I think Islamic banking is an important issue being discussed right now by experts both in the public and private sectors.” In an increasingly interconnected global economy today, the US has engaged in good discussions with countries around the world including many important Islamic countries, referring to the three Muslim countries – Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Indonesia – taking part in the G-20 summit scheduled for November 15 in Washington to tackle the global financial crisis, he said. Kimmitt said during his meeting with the Saudi Finance Minister, Ibrahim Al-Assaf, he discussed the preparations of the coming G-20 summit and its agenda. Asked if Islamic banking will also be on the agenda of the Washington summit, Kimmitt only said, “The input is still being gathered and discussions are on. Obviously, it is a one-day summit with 20 heads of state … if you are going to come up with a conclusion with principles and coordinated action plan, it has to be a very carefully prepared agenda,” he said. “Right now we are trying to get what input we can from other members of the G-20 and what that should be.” He said the G-20 was established in 1999 after the Asian financial crisis. It has shown a history of very effective operations at the level of finance ministers. “Minister Al-Assaf, our Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and other ministers have been using this important mechanism very actively in recent years … Why? Because with the 20 countries that are represented at the table, we get a picture of the globe and not just in the context of G-7, the major industrialized countries but more broadly,” he said. “We meet at a time of considerable stress in the global financial markets and my visit to the Kingdom was an opportunity to offer US perspective to Saudi leadership and to hear from them … how the situation looks in Saudi Arabia, in the Gulf, and in the world,” he said. Kimmitt underscored the Kingdom's financial damage in the current crisis. Saudi Arabia has already played an important role by both addressing issues that have erupted in the country itself in view of the crisis and forging a very constructive partnership with the US and others to create much-needed liquidity in the global financial system, he said. It was important to reemphasize the US commitment for open investments and free flow of capital across the borders, he added. A number of important American investors are looking into investment opportunities in Saudi Arabia while the US market is open for Saudi investments. Kimmitt said he would also meet the GCC finance ministers, who were holding a crucial meeting here Saturday to discuss the current financial crisis. – SG __
