KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - Muslims should take "simple and practical steps" to promote economic development and leadership among the faithful, an international conference was told Tuesday.

The message came at the end of the third World Islamic Economic Forum, where leaders from Malaysia and Indonesia said the Muslim world must unify and reclaim its passion for knowledge to counter the West's negative image of the religion.

"Let us focus on simple and practical initiatives," Musa Hitam, chairman of the World Islamic Economic Forum Foundation which organized the conference, said in remarks to close the event.

The three-page closing declaration endorsed programs to make affordable computers available to disadvantaged Muslims, to establish scholarships and internships for Muslim youth, and to support leadership training programs and collaborative university research.

"It is only three pages long. We wanted it to be simple," Musa said. The declaration said "a stronger focus on business partnerships and economic development can lead to the rapid progress of the Muslim ummah (people)."

The two-day forum, aimed at boosting cooperation among Muslim communities, earlier heard that the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) accounted for 21 percent of the world's population in 2005 but only five percent of global gross domestic product.

Musa urged corporations to support education, and called for the promotion of entrepreneurship among women.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told the same meeting that Muslims must unite to face global poverty and other challenges.