(MENAFN- Arab News) Saleh Kamel chairman Board of Trustees Iqraa Waqf for Employment & Business Expansion and chairman General Council for Islamic Banks & Financial Institutions and president Dallah Albaraka Holding Group has highlighted the worsening situation of endowment properties in Muslim countries as a result of interference of governments. 'Because of this situation many people have stopped establishing endowments" he said.

Kamel who is also chairman of the board of trustees of Iqra Endowment emphasized the role of development in fighting poverty. 'Some Islamic countries have allowed the private sector to develop endowment properties. There were also efforts to convert endowments into chambers of commerce but we did not see any substantial result" he told a seminar on the second day of the 35th Albaraka Symposium for Islamic Economics.

He urged the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) to strengthen its efforts in developing endowment properties in the Islamic world.

Diyab Karar Ahmed acting director of the Islamic financial services department and manager of Awqaf development division IDB Group presented a number of models for endowments from different parts of the world.

Adil Mohammed Al-Shareef executive director of the World Waqf Foundation (WWF) member of the IDB Group said the endowment sector lacked transparency and emphasized the need for establishing a company to manage endowments and provide its revenues to their owners.

Adnan Ahmed Yousif board member and president and CEO of Albaraka Group stated earlier that the issue of financing and its role in development is a key issue in the modern fiscal Islamic ideology.

'The problem in this active movement at its theoretical level is that it's limited to the Islamic banking issue" he explained.

"Now that the Islamic money is making industry achieve recognition and spreading in many countries we need economists intellectuals and researchers to build economic structures derived from the nation's identity" Yousif added.

"These structure need to have the needed competencies and efficiency to direct finances toward real economy in order to support production exchange and employment activities" he said adding that the success of these structures will push toward a success of all efforts aiming at creating structural changes as well as social and economic shifts that will allow for a steady escalation of the society's potential in the way toward improving the quality of life.

Adil S. Dahlawi MD & CEO of Itqan Capital said: "This year's symposium poses a very important question about the role of Awqaf (Islamic trust) in the economic development of OICs (Organization of Islamic Countries) and the role of asset managers in driving the reform of these vital institutional investors.

Quoting the latest figures he stated that the Islamic AUMs (assets under management) in OICs reached $85 billion in 2013 growing at an annual rate of 8 percent while 'we expect Saudi Arabia to represent a significant portion of these AUMs particularly in Awqaf."