Malaysia, Indonesia, Kuwait, the UAE and Pakistan challenged Islamic countries yesterday to work together to create a new golden age to liberate Muslims from poverty, conflict and extremism.

The five nations told the World Islamic Economic Forum that many of the 1.6 billion Muslims globally rank among the world's poorest people.

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi noted that the 57 members of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference accounted for only five per cent of world's gross domestic product in 2005 despite comprising 21pc of the global population.

GDN