Asia-Pacific: Muslims urge Islamic free trade

Muslim countries have been urged to set up an Islamic common market as a way of boosting trade and development.

The call came at the end of a three-day World Islamic Economic Forum held under the auspices of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

The forum in Kuala Lumpur said the OIC’s 57 nations could gain economic clout internationally by signing an Islamic free trade agreement.

At present, OIC countries’ collective GDP is less than 5% of the world total.

Trading between OIC countries is worth about $800bn (£456bn) – no more than 7% of global trade as a whole.