PM outlines strategy for Ummah’s uplift
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KUALA LUMPUR—Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Saturday urged the Muslim Ummah to share financial resources and commodity surpluses and enter into multilateral free trade arrangements leading to an Islamic Economic Union. Sharing his vision for the Islamic renaissance at the inauguration of the World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF), he presented a 10-point roadmap to achieve development of the Muslim Ummah through institutional mechanisms.
Some 500 delegates from Islamic countries and representatives of non-OIC countries—Australia, China, Croatia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United States and the United Kingdom - are attending the three-day forum here in the Malaysian capital. Prime Minister Aziz said the roadmap he presented was definitely within the reach of the Muslim Ummah. The Muslim countries, he said possessed tremendous potential but they needed to translate it into assets. In his ten-points the Prime Minister urged the Ummah to promote greater unity, cohesion, and cooperation by addressing and resolving dissention within societies and the disputes embroiling them.
“Only through unity and a common purpose will we be able to triumph over our individual adversities.” Aziz also said the empowerment of women and minorities would ensure a more progressive and enlightened Ummah.
“We should ensure good governance through people’s participation, transparency and accountability.” He said the economies can be restructured through deregulation, liberalization and privatization, this he added, would ensure a sustained high growth trajectory and raise living standards. He called for improving delivery of social services especially health and education in the scientific and technical fields.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said the Muslim world is endowed with natural and human resources which can be pooled to create collective assets through sharing best practices. He stressed the need for entering into multilateral free trade arrangements among Muslim countries and promoting free flow of labour and material resources.
“Create complementarities between us in the economic and trade fields so as to ensure a win-win situation for all. We need to move forward toward an eventual Islamic Economic Union,” he added. He said the Muslim world could also create a world class capital market to attract international capital. “This would enable us to finance our development and growth,” he said.
Aziz also supported sharing of financial and commodity surpluses to promote development  and progress through institutional mechanisms. He said the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) needs restructuring to enhance its capacity to promote investment and trade.
“The IDB should also play a leading role to develop the framework for Islamic Banking.” He also called for reorganization and reinvigoration of the Organisation of Islamic Conference as a forum for the empowerment of the Ummah to meet challenges of the new millennium. The Prime Minister also stressed the need to create the necessary intellectual environment for the renaissance of the Muslims world through achieving intellectual revival, academic excellence, and a spirit of enquiry.
“It is within our grasp to bring about a qualitative change in the Islamic world towards a future of peace and prosperity,” the Prime Minister said. Citing education as the key to progress, he said “We need to begin by building upon the intellectual capacity of our people and opening up our minds to the rapid technological progress taking place in the world. We should move from share of muscle to share of mind,” he added.
Aziz called for creating centers of excellence in higher learning, which can compete with the best institutions in the world, especially in the fields of science & technology, IT, energy and the social sciences. For the creation of an enabling environment, the Prime Minister urged political stability and continuity, well conceived and consistent economic policies, good governance, transparency and accountability and a high degree of professionalism in line with global standards. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz speaking about the wealth of natural resources available in the Muslim world said it has vast natural resources including 70% of world’s hydrocarbon reserves while 40% of the world’s raw material exports originate from the Muslim countries.
The Muslim nations extend from Morocco to Indonesia and oversee seven strategically significant sea-routes including the Mediterranean, Bosporus, Black Sea Suez Canal, Red Sea, Persian Sea, and the Strait of Malacca. He however pointed that the Muslims which make up 19% of the world’s population only share 6% of its income while not a single country was among the group of developed industrialized nations.
He said the Islamic world’s share in global trade was barely 7-8% while intra-Islamic world trade accounts for 13% of their total trade. Its collective GDP is $ 1.7 trillion, about 8% of the world GDP. Aziz said Pakistan has been making strenuous efforts over the past six years to reform, rejuvenate and reposition across the entire spectrum of governance to meet the challenges of development and progress.
“We have ensured responsible and transparent governance by providing representation from the grass-roots to the national level. In the economic field, Aziz said Pakistan has pursued a policy of liberalization, de-regulation and privatization accompanied by multi-sectoral reforms and restructuring.
“These have ensured a growth trajectory for the economy with 8.4% GDP growth last year. We have now embarked on second generation reforms involving infrastructure upgradation, investment in human capital, capacity building and promoting a knowledge based economy,” Aziz said.—Agencies