KUALA LUMPUR 

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Friday that four countries including Turkey will be playing a pioneering role in the 2019 Kuala Lumpur Summit.

Briefing about the summit which will be held between Dec. 18-21, Mahathir said the summit was a baby step towards identifying problems that haunt the Muslim world and find solutions for them, and he called for a support for the initiative.

Some 450 leaders and thinkers from the Muslim world will attend the event.

Turkey, Pakistan, Qatar, Indonesia and Malaysia are the key countries of the summit as they share similar concerns.

Mahathir noted that the upcoming summit will be an alternative to Muslim bloc Organization of the Islamic Cooperation and could grow into a larger initiative in the future.

*Writing by Ali Murat Alhas