06 September 2004	Monday	20 Rajab 1425

KARACHI, Sept 5: The need for developing knowledge-base for Muslims to make them economically competitive was stressed by speakers at the concluding day of the three-day international conference on Muslim Ummah in modern world - challenges and opportunities.

The conference, which was inaugurated on Friday by former Malaysian prime minister Dr Mahathir bin Mohammad, was organized by the Hamdard Foundation Pakistan. The deliberations on Sunday were more focused on economic issues and the impact of unilateralism and war on terror in which Muslims have been at the receiving end.

Addressing the conference, State Bank Governor Dr Ishrat Hussain warned that unless Muslims stepped up their quest for knowledge and failed to prepare themselves for becoming competitive, they should not expect a better future. He stressed the need for bridging that gap rapidly.

Referring to abject poverty in the Muslim world, Dr Hussain pointed out the human development index showed that the Muslim world was spending minimal on human development. He was of the view that officials of the OIC and those of its member countries had become lethargic and were not reacting to the situation. According to him, absence of follow up actions was the crux of the problem.

Dr Ishrat Hussain held that globalization was beneficial for Muslims and they should take advantage of it by properly negotiating the deal and making themselves competitive.

Comparing the Western economic system with that of Islamic states, the SBP governor said that though the capitalist system appeared more efficient because it generated wealth, it failed to provide social welfare facilities. Communism, he added, led to an equal distribution but failed in ensuring efficiency and generating wealth.

He cited various examples of the system in Sweden and Denmark where there were no state-owned enterprises. Dr Ishrat Hussain pointed out that there were inbuilt security system in the Islamic economic system which, he said, was lacking in Muslim countries.

Federal Minister for Privatization and Investment Dr Hafeez Shaikh dwelt with the significance of networking for achieving the objectives of progress and development. Reflecting on the widespread disparity in the Muslim world, he pointed out that most of the income generated in the OIC countries was located in six countries whereas 22 of the heavily indebted countries were Islamic states.

"The share of the OIC countries in world trade is very low. Though rich in natural resources, their GDP is very low." He also referred to the pathetic knowledge-base in the Muslim world and lack of connectivity. In this context, he pointed out that the total number of PhDs in Muslim countries was equal to the number of PhDs associated with just one institute in India.

He was of the view that the weak human development, connectivity, investment policy regimes and anti-private sector bias were the causes of the 'low network fitness' of the OIC countries.

"The factors that will allow us to promote intra-OIC investments are the same that will allow us to promote investment in general." he said, adding that despite formulating many action plans, the OIC had not really followed them up and thus, it was ineffective in meeting the challenges today.

Dr Shaikh said that the principal challenge was to unshackle imagination and pursue the challenges with vigour and determination. Reviewing the experience in the rest of the world, the minister proposed that an initiative should be taken for a joint investment promotion team, Islamic direct-investment acceleration scheme, and communication and knowledge-sharing plans. This proposal, he added, would be mooted out by him at the upcoming OIC meeting.

Former minister for commerce Razzaq Dawood told the conference that in this age of globalization, it was imperative for Muslims to move away from rhetorics. The WTO was not bad for the Muslim world, as was being branded, he observed, and added that it encouraged competitiveness. He urged the Muslim countries to be prepared to meet that challenge.

Narrating his experience as a minister, he said that economic decisions were taken on comparative advantage. In his follow-up remarks, Secretary General of the Islamic Chambers of Commerce and Industry Aqeel A. Al-Jassem said that Islamic economic system was an alternative to the capitalist and communist economic systems.

He, however, regretted that Muslim countries were not fully paying attention to develop the Islamic system's instruments to meet the modern world's requirements. He stressed that the present level of trade among Muslim countries was not reflective of the available opportunities.