KUALA LUMPUR, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Islamic world needs to have better research and development facilities and diversify its economies in order to be competitive, local media reported on Tuesday.

Islamic nations needed to tackle the reform of educational institutions, brain drain and capacity-building in science and technology, Kuwait's Arab Planning Institute deputy director-general Dr. Ali Abdel Gadir Ali said at an international forum on the Makkah Declaration here.

"Each Muslim country has to spend 1 percent of its gross domestic product to encourage research and development, which is closely associated with innovations and inventions," the New Straits Times quoted Ali Abdel as saying.

The Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) member countries spent an average of 0.38 percent of their GDP on research and development compared to the 2.3 percent spent by the rest of the world, he said in his paper on "Science and Technology Development".

The OIC, he said, employed an average of 525 researchers and technicians per million inhabitants against 725 for middle-income countries.

Ali Abdel said 25 years was too short a period to implement the Makkah Declaration, especially for African countries.

"If Muslim countries are to fully develop their potential, they have to promote tolerance, allow freedom of expression, encourage free thinking and respect human rights," he added.