Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Saturday lamented the "perpetual dependence of the Muslim Ummah" on other nations for existence, and urged that OIC members make use of national resources for their collective good. For this reason, he told the closing session of the Commission of Eminent Persons of the Organisation of Islamic Conference here that to achieve this goal it was necessary to "shift our focus from geo-strategic to geo-economic perspectives".
The last session of the two-day conference of the Commission appointed by the Putrajaya Summit of the OIC concluded here on Saturday evening, with the finalisation of its recommendation on restructuring and reform of the OIC.
Before giving the final shape to their report, the intellectuals and experts, drawn from a number of OIC countries, held an open assembly to hear Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Malaysian Foreign Minister Hamid Albar, and OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu re-emphasise their mandate.
In his opening remarks, welcoming Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and the visiting leaders of OIC and Eminent Commissioners, Mushahid Hussain called for self-analysis by the Muslim nations.
He said the Muslims should stop blaming others for "our own failings as the fault lies within, and it is to be corrected forthwith", and added that it was time to give priority "to our own people and their welfare and bridge the gap between the ruler and the ruled".
The Malaysian Foreign Minister and OIC Secretary-General supported the moves initiated by President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan and Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmed Badawi of Malaysia for enlightened moderation, saying that the idea had opened new vistas of hope for the Muslim nations to recover from the present "tumble and crisis".
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz surveyed the world scene, saying that the Muslim Ummah had been caught in the vortex of upheavals caused by "nuclear proliferation, terrorism, extremism as well as increased use of unilaterism".
He said it was imperative that a new relationship between the Muslims and the West, built on mutual respect, tolerance and understanding be evolved to meet the situation.
Shaukat said that the virtual marginalization of Islamic countries at the global level constituted the foremost challenge. "Even Islamic states which have vast natural resources have been unable to transform those assets to gain corresponding political weight and stature. On the contrary, they are under threat of economic isolation and social ferment."
He spoke of inadequate weightage of the Muslims at the international level, despite the fact that they represent one-fifth of the world's population: possess 70 percent of world's energy resources, and 40 percent of global availability of raw material. But the collective OIC share in global trade is barely 6-7 percent. Their collective GDP amounts to a meagre 5 percent of the world GDP. The human development indicators of OIC countries are among the lowest in the world.
"In today's globalized world, economic strength determines the status and position of a bloc or country in the comity of nations. Without economic strength, the Ummah would remain vulnerable to external manipulation," he added.
Shaukat called for prioritisation of economic growth targets and pursuing poverty eradication through mutual financial and investment support. The Member States would need to follow a road map that envisages benchmarks and a time line in consonance with the MDGs. In recognition of the demands of contemporary reality "a necessary shift in our focus from geo-strategic to geo-economic perspectives is required".
Saying that women constitute half of humanity, he said that successful utilisation of their potential, skills and talents constituted an important religious, social and development imperative and the Muslim countries must create the enabling environment for women to play a constructive role in the societies.
In conclusion, he suggested the setting up of a "credible international think-tank to engage intellectuals, religious scholars and writers from the Ummah to highlight Islamic values of a moderate as well as compassionate society to our detractors", and declared that the idea would have full support of Pakistan.
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