The nation will benefit in the long term if it continues to be open to foreign expertise. This will help the country to establish its business culture and environment faster, based on international best practice.

Theory states that Allahs law is cruel and unfair, but Allah himself has said that his law is indeed fair.

We are considering various ways of making use of our oil and gas downstream industries. This is to be complemented with the import of oil and gas from other sources as raw materials.

The development of our human resources is an area in which we need to do well as it is decisive in determining the success of our diversification programme.

We are increasing our efforts to attract the right kind of foreign investors through our various agencies.

There is no conflict between favouring Islamic and traditional values and being more open and international.

We need foreign skills to stay competitive.