Muslim countries moved closer to forming a free trade area yesterday with plans to adopt tariff-cutting steps by end-2005 to bridge a gap between rich and poor members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). "This is an important first step toward the larger goal of greater economic integration among the OIC countries," the group's chairman, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, told an OIC trade forum. One of the biggest challenges facing the grouping of Muslim countries is the vast economic disparities among its 57 members, Abdullah told the forum in Malaysia's administrative capital. The OIC includes Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, The United Arab Emirates and Kuwait - which together possess 700 billion barrels of proven oil reserves - as well as countries such as Afghanistan, Sierra Leone and Bangladesh. Reuters quoted Abdullah as saying that the OIC countries were negotiating to establish a preferential trading system to boost trade with each other. --MORE 1038 Local Time 0738 GMT
