International Relations: Malaysia's PM calls for Muslim/West strategic partnership

Malaysia's Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, has proposed a strategic partnership between the Muslim world and the West to help advance the economic agenda of the Makkah Declaration.

In a statement issued following a plenary session at the World Economic Forum (WEF) held in Davos, he said: "This partnership can take concrete shape through the establishment of an institutional platform that brings together the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Conference) and the developed nations of the West to provide strategic direction, overview and coordination of cooperation."

Malaysia is currently chairman of the 56-member OIC.

He observed that the Muslim world cannot make sufficient progress by working just on its own.

"It can develop faster if it works in particular with the more advanced countries of the West," he said especially since Western countries have the resources and skills to assist OIC members.