Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Kuwait's prime minister Sheik Nasser Al-Mohamad Al-Ahmad Al Sabah are slated to attend the two-day event, hosted by mainly Muslim Malaysia.

"These leaders will be basically talking about Muslim leadership in a globalised world," chief executive of the forum, Michael Yeoh told AFP.

The first forum was held in 2005, and the meeting this year will focus on promoting business links and developing economic cooperation.

Seeking to bring together world leaders, business people and eminent thinkers, the meeting is viewed as the Muslim world's version of the World Economic Forum held in Switzerland.

"The objective of the forum is, firstly, to forge partnerships among the Muslims globally. We want to engage the Muslim diaspora globally," Yeoh said.

The meeting targets businesses from the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which Malaysia currently chairs, as well as those from India, China and Europe where there are significant Muslim communities.

The event will also focus on promoting understanding and dialogue between Muslim and non-Muslim societies.

"We want to build bridges between Muslims and non-Muslims using business as the platform," Teoh said.

Muslims throughout the world are trying to boost solidarity among themselves as tensions deepen between the Islamic and Western worlds following the US-led war on terror after the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York.

The concept of a World Islamic Economic Forum emerged from an OIC meeting of business leaders held in Kuala Lumpur in 2004.

Some 900 participants are due to attend this year, with substantial contingents expected from Middle East countries, US and Europe, organisers said.

The event has been organised by Malaysian think-tank Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute (ASLI).

"The forum will allow the world to take notice of the potential which lies within the resources and capabilities of the Muslim markets," said ASLI president Mirzan Mahathir in a statement ahead of the event.