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A STRATEGIC partnership between the Muslim world and the West to help advance the economic agenda of the Makkah Declaration is necessary.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said this partnership could take shape through the establishment of an institutional platform that brought together the Organisation of the Islamic Conference and the developed nations of the West.
It could provide strategic direction, overview and co-ordination of co-operation, he added.
"Its tasks could include the mapping of prevailing international and Western support and collaboration, and the identification of further areas of co-operation to advance the economic agenda of the Makkah Declaration," he said at the World Economic Forum plenary session on "Faith and Modernisation" yesterday.
The Makkah Declaration calls for reform and development in every sphere including the political, economic and social. It is accompanied by a 10-Year Programme of Action to be implemented by members of the OIC. In the economic and social fields, the emphasis is on alleviating poverty, eradicating illiteracy, enhancing the quality of education, reducing disease and expanding trade.
The prime minister said while the root causes of the present deep divide between the Muslim world and the West were political and needed to be addressed, they should not become an obstacle to collaboration in other fields.
"A strategic partnership between the West and the Muslim world to advance the economic agenda of the Makkah Declaration will be a historic opportunity to help bridge the divide and reconcile the two great civilisations," added Abdullah, who is also OIC chairman.
He said the Makkah Declaration was launched in December 2005 to address the challenges facing the Muslim world, and much of the hard work ahead had to be done by the OIC members themselves.
"But the Muslim world cannot make sufficient progress working just on its own. It can develop faster if it works, in particular, with the more advanced countries of the West. They have the resources and skills to assist the OIC members. The West will also gain enormously, because greater development in the Muslim world will mean a larger market, more trade, and greater peace and stability."
He said Islam was not against progress and that Muslims were explicitly enjoined to pursue knowledge, which was the bedrock upon which all progress and development was built.
Abdullah said examples of modernity in the Muslim world were there for all to see including the world's tallest building, the Burj Dubai, and the Petronas Twin Towers, the tallest twin towers in the world.
He said underdevelopment in parts of the Muslim world, was caused by scarcity of resources and distance from ports and maritime arteries.
The other panellists in the session, chaired by former British prime minister Tony Blair, included founder and president of Iran's Porch of Wisdom Cultural Institution, Mahdi Hadavi; executive director of the American Jewish Committee, David A. Harris; Archbishop of Washington DC, Theodore Cardinal McCarrick and US Saddleback Church's Rick Warren.
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