Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi warned that the Arab world faces numerous economic, social, political and security changes, and should focus more on education and human resources.

"Economically, the Arab nations rank poorly in terms of overall competitiveness," he told the Arab Strategy Forum on 'The Arab World in 2020'," attended by Arab and world figures.

"Because the majority of Arab countries are blessed with natural resources, they have concentrated only on a very narrow-based economy focused on oil or tourism," he said in an address on the last day of the three-day gathering.

Unless Arab countries took "immediate and effective measures," Abdullah said the economic foundations of Arab society would be seriously threatened once resources run out, or until alternative forms of energy are developed.

The Arab world needed to focus more on updating its education systems while inadequate education standards were preventing Arab states from developing their economies, he said.

"Of serious concern is the fact that the adult literacy rate in Arab states averaged at only 63.3 percent in 2002... one of the lowest in the world."

Maximise potential of women

Abdullah said many Arab countries needed to review their priorities and "spend more on educating their young, and training and re-training their workforce.

"Indeed, the Arab world is in great danger of falling further behind if it does not allocate greater priority and resources to its education needs," he said.

Women, who represent half the population of most Arab countries and "are no less important than men," must maximise their potential, Abdullah added.

Abdullah cited the example of the Malaysian government in transforming his country's economy into one that is knowledge-driven by investing heavily in education.

"Good governance seeks to empower and include everyone in the nation-building process. We are committed to providing all our citizens... adequate access to education and employment," Badawi said.