ISLAMABAD, Nov 10: With more than 70 per cent of the world’s energy resources and a quarter of the world’s population, Muslim countries have GDP less than half of some of the advanced Western countries, said the minister in-charge and adviser to the prime minister on science and technology, Dr Attaur Rehman at a convention of scientists organised on the occasion of the World Science Day at the National Library here on Monday.

He said the deep sense of powerlessness, injustice and inequality in Muslim countries in relation to advanced Western countries is the result of years of neglect of the traditions established in the golden era of science in the Islamic World from 700AD to 1400AD as today the annual science expenditure of the Muslim states is less than 0.2 per cent of their GNP.—Staff Reporter