Dhaka, April 26: France has expressed the hope that the Bangladesh government and Noble Laureate Mohammad Yunus will come together to showcase their achievements in alleviating poverty to international observers before the G20 (Group of Twenty) meeting scheduled to be held in Paris in November.
'We hope that the Bangladesh government and Mohammad Yunus will
work together to show their achievements in alleviating poverty in various events leading to the G-20 summit,' said the French president's special envoy, Martin Hirsch, at a press conference in Dhaka on Monday.
The G20 was formed in 1999, in the wake of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, to bring together the advanced and emerging economies to enable them to cooperate in stabilizing the global financial market. This year the G20 summit will be held in France in November.
Hirsch said he had handed over a letter of French President Nicholas Sarkozy to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday.
When he was asked about the contents of the letter, he said he had come to Dhaka to brief the Bangladesh authorities on the French government's plan to ask the Bangladesh government to play a role to highlight social issues including food security, which is on the G-20
summit's agenda, as well as to ascertain the nature of the relationship between the political authorities here and Mohammad Yunus.
He said that Mohammad Yunus, despite difficulties here with Bangladesh authorities, is familiar to the people and companies of France for his initiatives to alleviate poverty as well as his new concept of social business that has attracted many leading French companies.
When he was asked why France wants to bring the Bangladesh government and Mohammad Yunus together, he said that the government and the Grameen Bank have a lot of things in common including fighting for poverty alleviation and women's empowerment.
'We want them to cooperate as they have so many things to offer to the outside world. Their initiatives could be used in the framework of the G-20,' said the envoy.
Hirsch, who visited Dhaka 18 months ago, said that France was surprised at the recent changes in the relationship between the Bangladesh government and Grameen Bank.
'When I came 18 months ago, I saw the government and organizations like Grameen Bank and BRAC working together to fight poverty,' he said. 'It is difficult to understand what has happened in the meantime.'
The envoy said clearly that his country does not want to 'interfere, even by one millimetre, into the internal affairs of Bangladesh and its legal and judicial process'.
When he was asked about the invitation to Sheikh Hasina to visit France, he said 'There are various possibilities.'
It can be a 'bilateral' visit too, said the envoy, adding, 'It will be linked to the evolution of the situation here.'
When reporters asked him if France has any intention to invest in Bangladesh, he said some major French companies want to make investments.
Hirsch left Dhaka on Monday evening after a 3-day visit. He said he would apprise the French president of the outcome of his visit.
Referring to finance minister AMA Muhith's visit to France last month, the French ambassador, Charley Causeret, said he was the first Bangladeshi finance minister to visit France in the last 40 years.
The visit by Sheikh Hasina could be the next step to improve relations between the two countries, he said.
'We do not like to jeopardize any opportunities,' he added.
Source: New Age
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