By IINA,
Madinah : Former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim yesterday called on Muslim countries to remove obstacles in the way of investments in the development of a knowledge-driven economy. He was speaking on the second day of the three-day Knowledge Economy Forum here. “We urge the development of science because that is what our religion encourages us to do. No society can develop unless it marches forward while keeping pace with global economic and technological advances,” Anwar said, while presenting his paper. He said he hoped Madinah would once more become a world center for knowledge and culture where students could flock.
Anwar Ibrahim said that impartial application of law and bureaucratic transparency are the factors that attract huge international investments. The Malaysian leader warned against technology becoming the monopoly of a particular group or people.
“Technological know-how should be distributed evenly among the poor and the rich, and should not be the property of any particular group,” he said. Anwar Ibrahim said he believes that Saudi Arabia, with its financial resources and unswerving determination, could attract the world’s best brains to become a center of knowledge economy. He also warned against a cultural catastrophe, which may befall several Asian countries because of their negligence in developing their vast human potential in education.
“We should not be content with the knowledge of the West or the East. We must acquire knowledge from all sources as long as it doesn’t contradict our religion and traditions,” he said. In his work paper, Stein Sture, head of postgraduate studies at Colorado University, stressed the importance of promoting research studies in realizing national progress. Prince Faisal ibn Abdullah, chairman of the Al-Aghar Strategic Think Tank Group, also reiterated the importance of the Kingdom’s decision to heavily invest in a knowledge economy. “In the new world order, competitiveness depends on a country’s ability to employ its human capital as a major source of originality and inventiveness. It is high time we invested in this vast resource,” Prince Faisal said. He said that in order to develop the human potential required by a knowledge economy, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has allocated SR13 billion for training, SR9 billion for education, SR4.5 billion for telecommunication, and SR8 billion for research and development at the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology.
Al-Aghar is the organization that was instructed by King Abdullah to undertake a comprehensive study with the help of the Islamic Development Bank on ways to develop the Kingdom into a knowledge-based society. Other speakers yesterday included Dr. Musa M. Nordin from Malaysia; Dr. Khadijah Shamsuddin, a researcher on maternal health, child health, reproductive health and women’s cancers in Malaysia; and Dr. Najeeb Al-Haq from Pakistan. Major topics, which are to be discussed at the forum, include high-tech innovation and creativity in the Muslim world, strategies to decrease genetic disorders, knowledge infrastructure development through information and communications technology (ICT) and engineering, and bioinformatics-based investment in the Kingdom.
On behalf of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, Madinah Governor Prince Abdul Aziz bin Majed opened the Forum, entitled “Noor” (Light), at the Le Meridien Hotel in Madinah on Sunday evening. In the inaugural speech, the governor stressed the need for taking advantage of the golden opportunity to reach new height of knowledge through actively taking part in the ongoing knowledge race in the global village.
About 500 elite scientists, intellectuals, economic experts as well as investors from various parts of the world are taking part in the three-day event with the theme of ‘Knowledge-Based Investment’. This is the first Islamic scientific and knowledge forum to be organized in the Kingdom. several topics, with a focus on information communications technology and healthcare, are being discussed at the event, organized by the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA).