BANGLADESH: Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus calls on his country to continue to move forward in battle against poverty

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus on Monday (October 16, 2006) called on Bangladesh to shake off its past and move forward with its new identity as a globally acclaimed forerunner in the battle against poverty. Yunus told a packed civic reception in Dhaka that the nation had earned a new fame and honour to be explored and should live "as Nobel winner Bangladesh." Yunus and Grameen Bank he founded were awarded the 2006 Nobel peace prize on Friday (October 13) for grassroots efforts to lift millions out of poverty that earned him the nickname "banker to the poor". His pioneering model went on to be copied in over 100 countries from the United States to Uganda. In a speech Yunus told an appreciative audience, "I want to say that 6.7 million women (microcredit loanees) are the winners of the Nobel Prize." To further cheers he said, "Bangladesh is not the country it was, Bangladesh is a Nobel winning country, and we will remain a Nobel winner, we will remain as winner, we will continue winning, thank you all."

ITN Source | October 17, 2006

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