FM Qureshi calls for integrated response to challenges of Muslim Ummah

DOHA: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that Pakistan fully supported the Kuala Lumpur summit aimed at enhancing Muslim nations’ existing potential for collective development and shared prosperity.

Addressing at the second Kuala Lumpur Summit Ministerial Meeting in Doha on Tuesday, the foreign minister said the challenges of governance, development, climate change, terrorism and rising Islamophobia, warranted an integrated and comprehensive response, Radio Pakistan reported.

The Foreign Minister said with the juggernaut of globalization causing a civilizational and cultural erosion, it is imperative for the Muslim world to tread a cautious path.

Qureshi said Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Qatar, Iran and Turkey collectively accounted for about 50 percent of the total GDP, 37 percent each of natural gas production and population, and 18 percent of the total area of the Muslim world.

He said for the nations, situated in close proximity to the strategic maritime points of the world – namely the Straits of Malacca, Gulf of Oman, Strait of Hormuz, and the Bosphorus, there existed an immense potential for collective development and shared prosperity.

“We must have the requisite political and diplomatic space to enhance beneficial cooperation among us for socio-economic development,” he said.

Muslim countries including Pakistan, Indonesia, Turkey and Qatar on the call of host Malaysia are participating in the ministerial meeting in Doha, prior to the main Summit to be held in Kuala Lumpur on 18th of the current month.