Cameron praises Najib's approach on moderation against extremism

He said Najib's initiative has been able to inspire and unite people across the globe.

"(Prime Minister) Najib is a newly re-elected leader whose pioneering Global Movement of Moderates (GMM) is uniting and inspiring people across the world in the fight against extremisim," he said in his special address at the 9th World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF) here yesterday.

In 2010, Najib has called for members and leaders of the world's major faiths to censure and reject their own extremists and jointly support GMM.

The concept was further expounded by the Prime Minister at prestigious platforms including at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, East-West Center, the Asia-Europe Meeting and the Asean Summit.

At the inaugural International Conference on GMM held in Kuala Lumpur in early 2012, Najib had called for the establishment of the GMM Foundation.

The propsed foundation will serve as a centre of first resort in the dissemination of information on the concept of moderation in combating the scourge of extremism in five broad areas including peaceful co-existence, democracy and rule of law, finance, education and conflict resolution.

On another note, Cameron also lauded Najib's commitment to doing business with Britain in delivering millions of pounds of new investments and creating hundreds of new jobs here and in Kuala Lumpur.

"Over the coming years, I hope we will see billions of pounds of new investments in a range of sectors where the United Kingdom excels from property and housing to aerospace and life sciences," he said.

Besides Cameron, 16 heads of state and government are attending the biggest gathering of leaders in the history of WIEF, being hosted for the first time outside Islamic nations.

Najib is expected to hold bilateral talks with Cameron today for about an hour at No. 10, Downing Street, to explore more possibilities for the two friendly nations as they endeavour to expand their bilateral trade to eight billion pounds by 2016.

Najib will be accompanied by International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Datuk Hamzah Zainudin, Malaysia's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Datuk Seri Zakaria Sulong and several high ranking Malaysian government officials.

On another note, Bahrain's Crown Prince, Prince Salman Hamad Al-Khalifa, praised Najib's speech at the forum, which touched on harnessing economic potential through women empowerment.

"Although it has no relation to the subject that I will speak about, it is my firm belief that the foundation of any democratic society is a democratic household and the threshold to that is an empowered and equally productive environment for all genders.