Muslim nations must unleash their potential by focusing on economic development and building trade links with each other, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told an international Islamic trade forum today.

Abdullah hailed a new preferential trading system to be signed by some of the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) members this year as an initiative to kick-start the process.

"This is an important first step towards the larger goal of greater economic integration among OIC countries," he said in an opening address to the OIC Trade Forum.

"It is economic strength which can give the OIC greater clout and secure for itself a more influential voice in international affairs," he said.

Abdullah said it was up to member countries to ensure that the preferential trading system, details of which will be thrashed out in the next few months, was successfully implemented.

"I hope the system can be adapted or another system put in place to promote greater involvement of the less-developed members in economic development as a whole," he said, adding that this was the best way to create wealth.

Develop existing institutions

Besides the trading system, Abdullah said that governments and business communities must develop existing institutions like Islamic banking and chambers of commerce in order to promote economic integration.

"Let us look at ways in which we can leverage on our strength. Clearly these must be areas where we not only have a natural advantage but also the critical mass to make our initiatives successful."

He that one of the biggest challenges confronting the grouping is the deep economic imbalances between members, which "should be viewed as an imperative for cooperation rather than as an obstacle."

Abdullah called for the education sectors in OIC countries to be improved, pointing out that Islamic scholars had made immense countributions in the past.

In spite of this scholarly tradition, OIC countries are now badly lagging behind in education development, he said.

"Out of the total population of 1.3 billion in OIC member states, less than 300,000 qualify as scientists. In comparison, the United States of America has 1.1 million scientists; Japan has 700,000," he said.

Kuala Lumpur is playing host to a range of meetings on the Islamic finance and information technology sectors this week.

Governors' meeting

The annual meeting of the board of governors of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), the OIC's investment arm, will be the centrepiece of the program.

The governors, mostly finance and economic ministers, are expected to approve a 10-year global masterplan to help their countries develop their Islamic financial services sectors when they meet on Thursday and Friday.

They will also launch a trade financing body with capital of US$3.0 billion to encourage trade development among members.

Malaysia, the current chair of the OIC, has been pushing for closer economic integration in the grouping and for nations to develop their Islamic finance sectors as a way of strengthening their economies.

Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz told the forum that member nations must address their very low participation in global commerce.

In 2003, cumulative global trade of the 57 OIC members was only 1.8 percent of the world total, she said.

"Every effort must be made and every mechanism put in place to move the OIC economic agenda forward through capacity building," she said.

"The future of the OIC lies in its economic agenda and this economic agenda must be driven essentially by the business community within the OIC."