Malaysian PM says Muslim nations considering trade through gold, barter system to avoid sanctions

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Saturday that Iran, Malaysia, Turkey and Qatar are considering trading amongst themselves through gold and barter system in a bid to prevent any future sanctions on them.

"I have suggested that we re-visit the idea of trading using the gold dinar and barter trade among us," Mahathir said, at the end of the Islamic summit in Malaysia. 

"We are seriously looking into this and we hope that we will be able to find a mechanism to put it into effect."

It should be noted that Iran has been badly affected by the US-imposed sanctions that were put in place last year. The US allies: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt have also cut diplomatic and trade ties with Qatar nearly two and a half years ago over allegations that the country backs terrorism.

The leaders attending the summit agreed that they need to push trade amongst themselves and transact in each other's currencies. 

The Malaysian PM praised Iran and Qatar for withstanding economic embargoes and asked the Muslim world to be self-reliant to face future threats. 

Mahathir also said that there was concern of Muslims undergoing assimilation in non-Muslim countries. 

"We support integration but assimilation to the extent of shedding our religion is unacceptable," the Malaysian prime minister said.

The four-day summit was boycotted by Saudi Arabia, who slammed the event for undermining the Saudi-based Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which represents 57 Muslim-majority nations. Malaysia responded to Saudi's claims by saying that it had invited all the OIC members to the summit but only about 20 nations showed up.

In the last day of the event, no joint statement from the members who attended the summit was released. 

(with inputs from Reuters)