By NNN-KUNA,
Kuwait : Bahrain’s Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman Al-Khalifa has said that development was a humanitarian act and practised as part of the Islamic economic values.
The premier was speaking at the Leadership Panel of the Fourth World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF), entitled “Islamic Countries in a Competitive World.” The panel was inaugurated Tuesday by Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.
He expressed happiness to participate in this forum, and extended his gratitude and appreciation to Kuwait for supporting development projects in Islamic countries, including Bahrain.
Such forums are a practical response to the wave of allegations against Muslims and prove that the values of this religion push for the development of people and civilisations, he said.
He called for benefiting from such events in making Muslim countries present in the world of development, especially as this was a world that respected large economic blocks.
Al-Khalifa pointed out that the Islamic world was able to prove itself by participating in global development in a fast-changing world that required increasing cooperation among countries.
Many challenges need to be countered, he said, including poverty, ignorance, and diseases.
Economic and political reform in Islamic countries should not stop and should ensure effective participation in development, he stressed.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of Cote d’lvoire Guillaume Soro expressed his admiration as to the WIEF preparations, describing them as excellent.
He said the event was an opportunity to hold dialogue among Islamic countries which faced extraordinary challenges.
Islamic countries are mature and able to resolve their problems single-handedly, he said.
He thanked all the countries that financially supported Cote d’Ivoire to reach peace, stressing that the peace process should be supported and that it would be unfortunate if it stopped because of lack of financial resources.
He said his people suffered from the shortage in food and high living costs.
He emphasized that Islam called for cooperating and supporting others, adding that trade exchange could contribute to combating poverty.
He called for coordinating efforts towards advancement and providing better conditions for the Islamic societies.
Meanwhile, Kazakhstan Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Sauat Mynbayev said that he was confident this event would give a boost to relations between Muslim states in all fields and would serve to achieve integration.
He said that his country aimed to become one of the 50 top competitive countries in the world, adding that over the past five years, its economic growth had reached 10 per cent.
Growth indications has allowed Kazakhstan to become a donor country and it is now one of the top 40 countries attracting investments, he said, adding that the government was continuing to place strategies for diversifying exports and services.
President of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Dr Ahmad Mohammad Ali lauded Kuwait’s initiative for hosting this forum, noting the participation of leaders and the important topics that were being discussed on the sidelines of the event.
He said that it was not strange for a forum held in Kuwait to be successful, adding that this was a pioneering country in global development and in joint Muslim action.
Ali said Kuwait’s role in development was evident in its establishment of the first national development fund, Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, which had financed projects worth USD 15 billion up to today.
He said the IDB was proud to be one of the institutions contributing to the alleviation of the suffering of impoverished people of the world.