President Nazarbayev calls for true renaissance of the Islamic civilization

The Islamic world should use its demographic potential to secure sustainable economic development, Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev said when speaking at the 38th Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of OIC Member States June 28. Citing international experts, he said that by 2030 the Muslim world will be home to over 2.2 billion people, which is over ¼ of the global population. “The huge human resources require proper education and science. Our task is to raise intellectual elite able to generate ideas that would foster true renaissance of the Islamic civilization”, the President said. He reminded that in the Middle Ages the Islamic world could be proud of discoveries in different realms. “Such cities as Bagdad and Alexandria were intellectual centers of the world, concentration of scholars (…) The Muslims created a powerful intellectual civilization admired by neighboring countries (…) Emergence of the Arabic numerals boosted Mathematics, fostering (…) architecture and trade, contributing to prosperity of Europe. Given the powerful foundation, we should jointly revive the intellectual role of the Islamic civilization”. According to him, “the Muslim world needs to understand why the intellectual grandeur and positive dynamism of the Muslim world have somewhat diminished. Why Islamic countries with their rich natural resources, human capital and abundant financial resources hold not the highest positions in the hierarchy of the world development. Why Islamic universities are not the benchmarks in higher education. Why for the last 20 years the Muslim world hasn’t made any global scale discoveries in natural and technical sciences”. President Nazarbayev called to foster intellectual environment that could generate break-through ideas and global discoveries in the Muslim world. The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) is the second largest inter-governmental organization after the United Nations which has membership of 57 states spread over four continents. The Organization is the collective voice of the Muslim world and ensuring to safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony among various people of the world. The Organization was established upon a decision of the historical summit which took place in Rabat, Kingdom of Morocco on 12th Rajab 1389 Hijra (25 September 1969). The Council of Foreign Ministers, which meets once a year, considers the means for the implementation of the general policy of the Organization. So far eleven Islamic Summit Conferences and 37 Councils of Foreign Ministers (CFM) have been held. Astana, the capital city of the Republic of Kazakhstan, hosts on 28-30 June 2011 the 38th Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of OIC Member States which is held under the motto of “peace, cooperation and development”. Kazakhstan will be chairing the organization starting from June 2011. The priority of Kazakhstan's chairmpanship will be to promote trade and economic relationships between member-countries of the OIC.