Bronwen Maddox
Welcome, everyone, to Chatham House, and a special welcome to His Excellency, Professor Muhammad Yunus. Very good to have you here.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Thank you.
Bronwen Maddox
I’m Bronwen Maddox. I’m Director of Chatham House. Let me just say a few things by way of introduction, though the fact that so many people are here and have been queuing for so long and there are so many online means very little introduction is needed. And still, as you know, Professor Yunus is renowned around the world for having founded Grameen Bank, and that is why he got the – along with the bank itself, got the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. And he has since then founded more than 50 social business companies, really expanding on this theme of microfinance, microcredit, which has proved transforming not just in Bangladesh, but in many countries, and his name is really associated with that.
And then we take a long jump into the present, or into last year, when in August, after the uprisings that overthrew Sheikh Hasina, whose party, the Awami League, had been in power for 20 of the previous 30 years, he’s taken on the role of Chief Adviser to the interim Government of Bangladesh. That’s a role that some of the protesters had asked him to take on, which he’s accepted. And many things have landed on your desk as a result. Many controversies about the next elections, which we will talk about, when those are going to come, about the terms of those elections, many controversies about the media in Bangladesh, and of course, you have the IMF to deal with now, the privilege of many leaders. And difficult economic circumstances for Bangladesh, including with the new world of tariffs that we are in, in many ways. So, we’re going to talk about all these things.
Let me just say, for the avoidance of doubt, we are not under the Chatham House Rule. This is being livestreamed; it is very much on the record. So, with that, Professor Yunus, a very warm welcome, and you said that you were going to just make a few opening remarks about, indeed, what is on your mind, if not on your desk.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Well, thank you for inviting me, that’s what I wanted to say. I have come to London with many incarnations. My – I was remembering my first incarnation, as a Boy Scout, way back in 1955, just returning from 8th World Jamboree held in Canada. So, I was interviewed by BBC about my experience in Bangla programmes. So, I earned two guinea for that, so I still remember. It’s a tremendous source of enjoyment that I earned two guinea in London.
Since then, I’ve been here for many reasons, so one of them, as you mentioned, ‘microcredit’ as issue, and then on youth movement, on social business, on creating a new world of three zeros, zero net carbon emission, zero wealth concentration, zero unemployment. And, kind of, pushing the idea every time that we have become part of a wrong civilization, we created a wrong civilization and a self-destructive civilization. We have no escape route in this civilization. We can – if you want to save ourselves as a human race, only way left to us is to create a new civilization, abandoning the present civilization. A civilization which will be characterised by three zeros, zero net carbon emission, zero wealth concentration, zero unemployment.
That’s what I was doing and enjoying it, finding many, many people who’d like to listen, argue and get involved. This is – it’s a action thing, it’s not just a re – academic discussions and leave it at that. So, I was very happy with that. Well, then, new incarnation comes. I have to head a government, absolutely unheard of, I never thought about it, and I got into it. So, today I came in that incarnation, but I’ll write – I’ll be free – I guess I’ll free to talk about other things, too.
Bronwen Maddox
Okay.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Thank you. I’ll stop here.
Bronwen Maddox
Thank you.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Thank you.
Bronwen Maddox
So, I think you are meeting the King, King Charles, on your, if you like, previous incarnation…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Yes.
Bronwen Maddox
…to do with the environment and microfinance. And you’ve met elements of the British Government to do with your current role, which as I said, we’re going to start with, even though it is less – and it brings us to the nitty-gritty of ring – running a country. And we can go back to, perhaps, to some of the other themes in questions. But let me start with this question of the elections, which is controversial. You’ve said now a few days ago, okay, the next democratic elections are going to be in early April, but there’s still a lot of controversy. The Army and some Politicians would like them by the end of this year. I believe you’ve banned the Awami League, the party of Sheikh Hasina, from contesting those elections, but it’s one of the big parties. So, already, a big chorus of people saying these elections are not going to be free and fair. What do you say to that?
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Well, I keep saying that we will have the most beautiful election we ever had in our history, and the time is right, people are ready. When you have an election after many, many years, after 17 years, you are having first time a real election, excitement in the country that we will have – we will really go and cast our vote. In this meantime, it is 17 years, imagine all the young people who are coming to that voting age, they are piling up. They never had the opportunity to cast their first vote, yet. So, excitement of these young people that “I will decide who do I vote for.” These boys, girls, who waited and waited and waited, their voice never counted, like many other, the wh – rest of the nation.
So, that excitement we want to use and create what we call a ‘new Bangladesh’. It’s not just voting for routine voting for electing a new government, it’s voting to create a new Bangladesh, but what is this all about? That’s the promise we made as we were given the responsibility, to make sure the ideals, the dreams of all the young people who gave their blood, just the other day, before we took the responsibility, we honoured their wishes, we honoured their dream. We want to say goodbye to the old Bangladesh and create a new Bangladesh.
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
So, we defined that new Bangladesh by three things. One is reform, we don’t want to go back to the institutions who created this, so we want to reform all the institutions we have in the country. So, we created commissions for each institutions, to study and gave us – give us recommendations, what fundamental changes in all those things. So, we had a series of those commissions. They have submitted their reports, lots of recommendations, very, very drastic changes in the institutions that we have, elections, Parliaments, constitutions, Civil Service, everything, so those recommendations.
So, we’re looking at those recommendations, but our job is to build a consensus, work with all the parties. So, we created a last commission, Consensus Building Commission. Have you heard about something like the Consensus Building Commission? We have them. So, their responsibility is to go through all the political parties, sit together, find out which are the recommendations they will accept, and see in which recommendation all parties accept. That’s a tough job for Bangladeshi Politicians to agree on something, all parties agree.
Bronwen Maddox
Do you know, I must say, it would be tough for many Politicians to agree on that, because – and that’s not a joke about Politicians. Because they might say, “Look, that’s taking away the democratic element. Why don’t you trust the voters? Trust the voters to vote for any of these parties and rely on them to use their judgement to pick the best ideas,” rather than a commission, appointed by you and your colleagues, picking which ideas you like.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
I wish we could do that, if everybody understood what is a bilateral, bicameral legislations, what the proportional voting is all about, all the complicated thing, you tell them. “Oh, forget it, how much money you give me? I vote for you,” to make it very simple, “So, you pay me some money, I vote for you,” that’s all, voting may translate into that. So, we said we don’t want to go to that part, public – all the voters can watch this debate, this is all debated, it’s on the newspaper every day, happen. So, ultimate aim, to make it short, ultimate aim, is to get all those recommendations where all the parties agree. Put it in a separate piece of paper, this is where all the parties agree, and then we celebrate all the parties signed that document that we’ll call – we call it “July Charter.” And we are waiting for July to come next month, this Charter will be presented to the nation, July Charter, and we celebrate, on this basis, now we’ll have the election. That’s how the election procedure was done.
So, one is the reform agenda, next is the trial, trial of the people who were perpetrators of all the things that happened in Bangladesh. I don’t have to elaborate, it’s a huge thing, it’s a terrible thing that happened to Bangladesh. People were killed point blank on the street every day. Your son, your daughter, went out, never came back, just shot. Two friends went out in the street, saying goodbye to each other, we may not come back. Maybe one of us will come back, another will not come back, we say goodbye to each other. Went out of the street, either none of them came back or one of them came back – and those. That’s the period we’ve passed through, this coming as mo – almost a year now.
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
So, we’ll be celebrating that those days of July and August, and have this Charter. And one is reform, another is the trial of all the perpetrators of this. People disappeared every day and nobody knew where they disappeared, where did they end up their life? Horrible stories after stories, these are all documented now. So, we have to find out why it happened, who did it, under which – whose orders? So, we have to try them. So, this is another agenda for us. Number three is the election, so this, we are talking about the election part, so these three is our responsibility.
Bronwen Maddox
So, I’ll come on to the trials of people involved in a moment, but I just want to stay for just one moment on this question of the Charter. Because critics of what you’re doing would say, “Look, you’re ruling out lots of political parties, anyone who doesn’t agree with this Charter, for example, the Awami League. So, you’re not really giving people a choice.” That this is not a democratic process. This is a very nice – wrapped up in lots of words about ‘consensus’, this is an authoritarian step for Bangladesh to take.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Yeah. Well, there’s a debate about that too. I mean, the debate is, is Awami League a political party?
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
If they can kills young people on the street just like that, make people disappear just like that, steal money just like that, would you still call it a political party? So, that’s a debate, this is not a judgment. The issue came on eight – on the 5th of August, the former Prime Minister left, fled the country. So, people were celebrating in the whole country, finally we are free. So, we thought this ends on the 5th of August, after departure of Prime Minister, former Prime Minister. For us, chapter is closed, this part is over, now it’s a country without them. But those who fled, for them, it didn’t end. They continued the same thing, in absentia, doing it from another country, exciting people. They’re fighting on the street. None of – this is the 10th month now, none of that party has ever expressed just remorse, “Sorry, your fault, somebody’s ordered – somebody got killed, I’m not responsible for it, I feel terrible that I have to be part of that,” none of them.
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
So, we are in a – for them, it continues.
Bronwen Maddox
So, let’s…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
For us, it is ended.
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
So, our – we don’t feel safe there on the street demonstrating, they’re threatening the people who are already the leaders of this uprising. So, safety of the country, safety of the politics of the country, the nation has decided that for the time being, the activities of Awami League will be suspended, for the time being, that’s all we have done. We have not banned Awami League, we have not done anything, until the trial is over, that’s all.
Bronwen Maddox
The trial of those people…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
All the people…
Bronwen Maddox
…involved?
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
…who are found guilty.
Bronwen Maddox
So, let me ask you then about that. Sheikh Hasina is obviously under the care of India, now in a secure house there, which she fled to. We’ll come out of relations with India as a result. But if I said to you, “Why not leave the question of the trial to the next elected government?” what would you say? Why is…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
That’s not the…
Bronwen Maddox
…this int – why is this interim government going to deal with it?
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
I didn’t decide it.
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
We are given this task by the people who invited us to take the responsibility, three task, and we’ve accepted those three tasks and we just – we are just going through that.
Bronwen Maddox
Let me just ask you one other thing on this particular period. I’m looking over at some of the media, but there been a lot of reports of a clampdown on media in Bangladesh over this period. What is your response to…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
This is false.
Bronwen Maddox
…to that?
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
It’s not true.
Bronwen Maddox
Not true?
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
They never had so much freedom in their life. They can say anything they want.
Bronwen Maddox
Yeah, and we may hear some of that later.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
I know.
Bronwen Maddox
Yeah. Let me come onto other questions about the economy, which is the role of anyone who takes on the job, as you have done, and suddenly dealing with the economy of your country at a particularly difficult time. What has been the impact of the upheaval in tariffs that the world is going through?
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Well, this is a very tough job for us. While the world is going through all these problems, we are going through another set of problems. We are at the zero level of our economy, or a negative level of our economy, not only zero. Zero is still you have positive thing that you can move. We have huge, huge bills to pay, because all the mega projects previous government took so that they can make lots of money out of that, cut funding for those thing, and now they are maturing to be paid, we don’t have any money. All the resources from the banks, from the reso – other sources, non-banking sources, in total we – the estimate given to our white paper, $234 billion taken away from the country, and documented in which way it – and so on, so forth.
So, that’s where we are, resources gone, we start from obligations to payment, it’s a negative, our foreign exchange reserve at the bottom, because it’s empty. Banking system collapsed completely, because banking system is very easy to transfer the money, a very simple procedure. Under threat, the whole board resigns, you put a new board of your choice and start issuing loans to your friends, with the understanding, “This is a gift you get, you never have to pay it back,” there’s no collateral, nothing.
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
So, this is the banking system we inherited. So, we have to restore the banking system in some way. We have to make payments for all those people who are knocking at the door with the big cheques – big bills that we have to pay. Otherwise, we are going to the court, which is not good for us.
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
So, we have to – in that crisis moment, the best thing that happened to us, the overseas Bangladeshis, many of whom are here…
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
…in London, in England and so on, in Middle East…
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
…they keep sending remittance, a huge amount of remittances and that saved us. The economy was saved by…
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
…with them. And that remittances keep growing, keep growing, keep growing. Today, our balance of payment situation is completely changed.
Bronwen Maddox
As you said – and that has been a real transformation. The IMF, though, is having a lot of meetings with Bangladesh, and it is quite clear, on this, it doesn’t want Bangladesh to wait for the next government, it wants the interim government…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
See.
Bronwen Maddox
…to deal with these – some of…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Sheikh didn’t want to do it.
Bronwen Maddox
…the things right now. One of things it wants is that you find a way to increase the rate at which people pay tax, that more people pay tax, that you can collect it better. Is that something you think is within the powers of an interim government?
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
The first thing I must mention on this, amazing response we get from the – all the governments of the world, enormous support.
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
They feel so relieved that finally this thing happened, “Now we can have a government we can talk to and we can work with.”
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
And they said, “Any support you need, please tell us, we’ll be very ha – eager to do that.” So, that gave us a moral boost, that we are not abandoned.
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Government of United Kingdom is one – Great Britain, is one of those countries, we are very grateful to them. Like, European Union, United States, Japan, China, you name it. Every single government gave a – came with the enormous amount of support, and that gave us a moral boost that, yes, we are not abandoned, we are not alone, they’ll be helpful, and they were really helpful. You mentioned ‘IMF’. Yes, IMF also helpful, World Bank is helpful, all the international agencies.
Bronwen Maddox
Not everyone uses those adjectives, so I’m not…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
No, no, it’s…
Bronwen Maddox
Yeah, I’m…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
I’m telling, it’s a…
Bronwen Maddox
Yeah, okay.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
…very concrete thing.
Bronwen Maddox
Yes.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
The one that IMF came into the picture, because the last debate that we had for the final release of the fund the IMF was controlling and they agreed to give us, that you have to open your foreign exchange rate. It should be left to the market. We are worried about it, because so far, we are controlling it so that we don’t, kind of, expose ourselves with a drain of all the foreign exchange gone because of the system. So, opening this to the market is a real issue, something – a big decision for us, which we debated, and – but the IMF said, “No, nothing doing. Unless you do that, we are not releasing our funds.”
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
We tried to convince them, and explain the danger of it, and so on, they said, “No, we understand, but we studied, I think you can handle it.”
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
So, we started saying, “Are we able to handle this? Let’s open it up.” Finally say, “If they see some positive thing, why aren’t we seeing it?”
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
So, I challenged them. They finally agreed that “Let’s do that.” And tell them again, “Fear not, in case we get into difficulty, we’ll revert.” This is just to protect ourselves. IMF says, “Okay, go ahead.” We opened it, nothing happened, same exchange rate, is just a little bit, it’s normal, it’s all working. So, we are celebrating that finally we see the strength in the economy and so on. So, IMF role is very positive, it’s not a negative one. Not trying to push us into trouble because of the – some principle they’re holding onto, it’s not like that.
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
We were not willing to jump into the water, they said, “Come on, you do it, you can make it,” and finally we made it, that’s it. So, we are thankful to IMF.
Bronwen Maddox
Okay. Let me ask you about relations with India and China, which seem to me be – to be somewhat in flux. Sheikh Hasina’s Government was very get close, in a way, to India, now she’s there. Relations with India, perhaps a bit less coo – a bit cooler between your team and Delhi now. Are perhaps a little bit warmer on China now. What is your account of this and what you are trying to do in foreign policy now?
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
We are reaching out to everybody. As I said, all the governments of the world have been extremely supportive. So, we are very thankful, we are trying to build up further relationship. We’re asking for their help that they never gave before, they were not existing before, so we said, “Let’s do that.” One of the thing we are saying, corruption.
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Bangladesh is just deep into corruption, everything is – system is corrupt, people are corrupt, so how to clean it up? What kind of changes we have to make to the government clean, within enormous corruption? So, we say, “There is a formula, there is a policy, there is a way to do that.” So, I mentioned something that – a conversation I had in September at the United Nations General Assembly, I was meeting all the world leaders, try explain to them what’s the situation in Bangladesh. So, I was meeting Ursula von der Leyen at the European Union. So, among many issues discussed, I said to her finally about the corruption, “I don’t know how to get out of this. Is there any way, is there any recommendations you make that we can follow?” So, she gave a big smile, she said, “You know what? We are coming from worse than that.” “European Union coming from the worst of corruption that we are faced?” Said, “Yes, many of our countries were trying to join the European Union were just all over corrupt, everything, you never heard of those kind of corruptions in your life, they had it.”
So, we had to install a system of cleansing them up, cleaning it up, washing them off, so that they can be clean as everybody else and join once they are clean. Then we take – so we learnt everything how to make it happen.
Bronwen Maddox
So, how? Because some of the pressure was put on those countries, and not with perfect effect, it was put on those countries because they so much wanted to join the European Union.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Yeah.
Bronwen Maddox
So, what is the pressure on Bangladesh politics and society to clean up?
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
It is a historical moment for us. If you can’t do it now, we’ll never do it. So, we made us sure that this is the time. History has given in a window…
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
…we can do things which no government can do, because all governments are partisan, have far supporters to take. We have nothing to do with that, we have nobody that I will be waiting for cast – getting his vote for me to come back again.
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
We are going, that’s very clear. So, we have the moral strength.
Bronwen Maddox
As the interim government?
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Absolutely interim.
Bronwen Maddox
Yeah.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Interim government is historical opportunity, it’s amazing opportunity.
Bronwen Maddox
So, how in the short year, the nine/ten months that you’ve got, how are you going – and I’m interested – Chatham House has done a lot of work on corruption, our most recent big project in Nigeria, but it’s a problem that many countries have. I’m just interested in what you are trying to do…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Oh, just one…
Bronwen Maddox
…to the [inaudible – 28:28].
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Give example.
Bronwen Maddox
Yeah.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
One example.
Bronwen Maddox
Yeah.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
You need a passport, you have to go to the Passport Office, apply.
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm hmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
And somebody will show up, “You applied for a passport, if you go this way, it will take years, you’ll never get it. Make a deal with me, give me X amount of money, I’ll deliver it to you at your home.” The guy is a representative of the officer who issues the passport. So, everything that you see outside all the norms, rules, procedures, now implemented not by the government officials, by their representatives who split the money that they earn. So, what we said, “From now on, we’ll deliver passport online.”
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
And people were very happy that, “Okay, you can issue passport online.” They go there to get this, or try it at home, it doesn’t work. What happened? Server is down.
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Somebody’s manipulating…
Bronwen Maddox
It’s really interesting. I mean, coun – several countries are finding a way to…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Sure.
Bronwen Maddox
…use technology to cut out…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Exactly, technology came and it’s…
Bronwen Maddox
…the person behind the desk.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
…helpful.
Bronwen Maddox
Yeah.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
So, what we did, we started – just now we have started this, started creating some kiosks, Government Service Centre. Oh, we don’t say ‘Government’, Bangladesh Service Centre. Young guy with a computer sitting there, boy, girl, been trained to give all the services. This is all – we made – all these months we are preparing all the ministries, every service you got it, whether you’re paying taxes, whether you’re issuing driver’s licence or you’re issuing your renewal of your passport, whatever, or your land tax, which is absolutely complicated.
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
They can make as complicated as they could. Said, “Now everything has to be delivered on – in – online.” So, we trained these young people, just started to last month, this kiosk. When you come, there is a price list, if you are passport, so many days, this much, X, so many days, this – and we deliver home. Not – or you – give you message, you come and pick it up, that’s it. So, we have three centres now. Within next month, we’ll expand to several more, gradually add to several more, and we are challenging every ministry, “How many services you are ready to provide online?”
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
They say, “We have five, we have ten, we have 15,” okay, whatever you give, give it to them.
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Train them.
Bronwen Maddox
Train.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Train them.
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
If there are difficulty, we’ll have a meeting together, “Why you are having difficulty?” Maybe technological will solve that problem, it’s our job.
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
I said the pa – task of the interim government, by the time they leave the government, all these services will be available to people, and all the ladies at home in the villages, women, housewives, they will be delivering these services. We’ll train them, they will deliver it. They don’t have to come to the city to do that. Wherever you are, you have the computer, you have the – everything, ha…
Bronwen Maddox
Or the phone, yeah.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Abs – so, this is the journey that we want to complete.
Bronwen Maddox
Alright. So, thank you for that detail, which is very inspiring. I want to jump to a vision of something much more difficult, which is the Rohingya, hundreds of thousands of them in the camps. What is going to happen?
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Well, that’s the question I raised as we came to the responsibility, Rohingya is mentioned. Only time they mention, “Who is paying for their food? Who is paying for their education of the kids?” that’s about it. I said, “Then what?” No question – nobody is answering that question. There are international organisations helping this. I said, “The question must be answered when they are going to go back, what is their future?” That question was never discussed, I said, “I want to discuss that, I want to raise that.” So, we went the United Nations General Assembly, I had a special meeting of all the donor countries were helping the Rohingyas, and I raised this issue, “Do you have a map, road map, when they going to go back?” “Oh, no, we have not done that.” I said, “Please do that.” ‘Cause unless – even if it’s at ten years/20 years, now have a date, and we know one year’s less now, another year gone, and we go there. So, we are working very hard to make sure that we can repatriate those people to go back.
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
In the meantime, we have problems, US Government stop all the money, USAID money…
Bronwen Maddox
Absolutely.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
…suddenly disappeared. And what used to be $12 a month per person for food, suddenly that $12 disappeared. Somebody said, “Okay, we can accommodate for two months for $6 a month.” I said, “Okay, $6,” now said, “$3 a month.”
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
What do you do with $3 for whole food for fam – for a person or something?
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
So, we are going through that process now, so organising, again, going back to the world communities, said, “Look, you asked us to host them, we are hosting them, but responsibility of maintaining them, you took yourself, so please don’t create a problem.”
Bronwen Maddox
Who are you talking to in that? Who do you really have in your sights that you would like help from?
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
With the whole group of countries were with us, that was connected with the Rohingya thing, we have meetings with them.
Bronwen Maddox
Is the UK one of those?
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
U – of course, is very important one, not only one of those, UK is a very important supporter of the whole thing, even now, this crisis period. So, we urge to have a global meeting of the Rohingyas can – on these issues and related issues in September this year at the United Nations. Have a separate UN se – General Assembly session on that, on the sideline of the General Assembly, have that, and discuss all these issues. This is one. In the meantime, as political change is happening in Myanmar, Rakhine State is taken over by Arakan Army, which is a old hub of the Rohingya population. They have a new push of the Rohingyas, pushing into Bangladesh. We started, there were 1.2 million Rohingyas, now it’s another 200,000 coming in, from the other side because of the things that are happening on the other side, so increase.
And most dangerous thing that I felt, and I started raising that, I said, “When they came, Rohingyas came to Bangladesh, they came with their kids. They didn’t leave their kids.” They had – and some of them were two-month-old, some of them two years old, some of them five years old. I said, “Seven years are gone, the five-year-old became 12-year old”…
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
…and so on. And each year there are 35,000 children are born, so they are growing up too. So, we have a whole new young generation coming up, and they have no hope. They don’t know who they are, what they are supposed to be doing, it’s a prison that they live in…
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm hmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
…but they have the compute – they have the mobile phone, they see everything in the world. So, they see, “What is our future?” I said, “These will be very angry young people growing up. How their anger will be expressed, we don’t know. Whichever way it will be expressed, it will be big explosion, I can assure you right now. Please help us, so that before that explosion point comes, we can take care of them, they are happy with their life, they are as creative, talented, any of our kids, they are no different.” But they are in a situation, they have no – they see the world outside on their mobile, we see the televisions are everywhere, but they don’t see their life. They are in a prison, and why they are in prison? They have stories, to listen to their mother, their father, no answer, “When do we come back home?”
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
And that’s a very important question to be answered for them.
Bronwen Maddox
And your plan is still that eventually they go back home, not…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
That’s the only way it can…
Bronwen Maddox
…not…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
…be solved.
Bronwen Maddox
You’re not going to integrate them into Bangladesh?
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
It’s impossible to do that. It’s impossible.
Bronwen Maddox
Why?
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
So, already, the people who live around the camps, very hostile. Very simple reason, “You get everything free, and we are struggling to make a life. And then you take our jobs, you take our food, you take away things from us. Why don’t you go back to your country? Why are you interfering with our life?” Those kind of thing.
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
“Your children having a fun life, our children, no life.”
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
To them, it’s a fun life, because you are sitting there, not doing – playing games, and it’s a fun life. “Our children is working hard, but no life.” So, that will spread, if you – the moment you say that they are – you promised that they will go back, the government promised that they will go back, and they know that. And now to say that they will stay with us, who are they? We are having difficulty, now you are in – putting us – them into us. No political government, no government will accept that.
Bronwen Maddox
You’ve made the point very, very clearly. Let’s go to questions, there are going to be a lot of them because there are a lot online, I can see already.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Wow, a lot of them.
Bronwen Maddox
Way-hay, hands up everywhere.
Member
Can I take the first opportunity?
Bronwen Maddox
Who is speaking?
Member
Me.
Bronwen Maddox
Let me – I’m going to go to the woman here, in the front.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Okay.
Bronwen Maddox
And then we’re going to go one at a time, and we’re going to take a couple here. I will come to you, and I will get the people in the back as well.
Samia Akter
Thank you for the opportunity to question you. My name is Samia Akter, and I’m a UK Correspondent for the Daily Sangram Pratidin. So, I have a question for you about your reformation agenda. You have said that for the freedom country, or Bangladesh, new Bangladesh, you have to change some key pointers, those are related to your reformation, which is reform. So, now my question is to you that when you arrived at Dhaka Airport on 8 of August 2024, you said that your main challenges is to “bring all the people together.” So, whenever we see that the Bangladesh First President, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, his house was demolished by – over the six hours, by Dhaka City Corporation bulldozer, so there we seen – we have seen that the administration was silent.
So, on this basis, you have separated particul – you have made division by separating particular persons or their supporters. So, on this basis, we can say that, how you, like, plan for reform Bangladesh or make unity accepted them, and are you…
Bronwen Maddox
Yeah.
Samia Akter
…an only advisor for the other half, excluding them particular parties or the persons?
Bronwen Maddox
Okay.
Samia Akter
Thank you.
Bronwen Maddox
Thank you very much, indeed.
Member
There’s a lot of questions.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Oh, that’s a lot of que…
Bronwen Maddox
There’s a lot…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Yeah, simple answer…
Bronwen Maddox
…in there.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
…simple answer is, lots of questions, lots of issues, all came at the same time, we couldn’t handle everything right away. So, it’s a, kind of, period that we have gone through, things have calmed down, come to order now, we are dealing with it. Bringing order to the nation was a big task for us, ‘cause the Police Force that we got, yesterday, they are shooting at the kids, and today suddenly, they said, “Okay, clear the road, get out.” “Who are you? They want to beat you up, ‘cause you killed my brother, you killed my son, you cull – killed my sister, and now you’re telling me to do – what to do.” So, they’re afraid to go to the road.
So, we had a deadlock situation, we didn’t know how to handle those kind of thing. So, it took time, and, luckily, I can report to you, that has come down now. People are accepting the police, all the people that identified as a perpetrator of all the terrible things that happened to Bangladesh taken out of the services, and they will be on the trial, this is the trial become such an important thing. You know the person, it’s not something some police, say, “I know the guy who did that. I – he’s in front of me, he’s in my video, I can show you my video.” The whole happened in Bangladesh with open videos everywhere, so all recorded.
It’s amazing kind of uprising, where every single event is recorded as it happened, not one camera, everybody has a camera, everybody is taking it. So, all been assembled, it’s identified and we are trying to clean. We are not saying that we are government, we solve all the problems, we are – all successes. We have now a Police Force which can bring or – law and order in the country, and so on, so we are – and the unity of the political parties is the number one goal for us. We have been sitting together, all this thing we’re talking about, creating a July Charter, it’s not easy thing for all the parties to sit together and debate, but we’re doing that.
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
And I’m promising you here, and I hope I can deliver you in July, July is next month, that Charter will be announced in the presence of all parties. That’s the best unity you can get in any country after a revolution, within a month, within a year.
Bronwen Maddox
Okay, [applause] thank you very much. Come – the front row here, the man next to you. It is so packed this hall.
Bulbul Hasan
Thank you, Chair.
Bronwen Maddox
Would you like to say who you are, please?
Bulbul Hasan
My name is Bulbul Hasan, I work for Channel S television. I’ve got a very precise question. People in Bangladesh, a significant number of people in Bangladesh are apparently disillusioned with the conventional political system. So, once the election is over, the democratically elected government takes over, are you in a position or do you have any desire to be a part of that government?
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
No way, no way, [applause]. No way.
Bronwen Maddox
Good one.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
I think none of our Cabinet Members would like to do that, not only me. So, our job is to make sure the transition is managed well, and people are happy when we hand over power to the elected government. So, we want to make sure election is right. That’s very critical factor for us. If the election is wrong, this thing will never be solved again.
Bronwen Maddox
Okay. Yeah, thank you…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
It will be very difficult.
Bronwen Maddox
…thank you for the question and answer. Right, let me come – last one in the front row here, and then I’m coming to the back, and over here. We’ve got good time, not for everyone, but lots of time.
Member
Is that me? Sorry, is that me?
Bronwen Maddox
Sorry, no, I me – this chap here, sorry.
Dewan Mahdi
Hi, thank you very much for arranging this event. My name is Dewan Mahdi. I’m the Director General of British Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry. First of all, I would like to say thank you to you for taking the responsibility in a big chaos, when the young generation was wanting for a big change. So, you showed the courage, and we appreciate your time and patience.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
We had no other option, therefore…
Dewan Mahdi
Okay. My question is to you, we have seen a very surprising role played by India. You said they seem to be a democratic country, but when it comes – we talk about Bangladesh, their role is very unclear. In what capacity, if I speak very legally, they are keeping Sheikh Hasina in their country while there would be a trial going on in our country? And the same question was asked in the – in their Parliament, they did not have any clear answer. And I know you are a very well-known person, like, internationally. In order to create pressure on India, how you are using your lobby in terms of United Kingdom, in terms of USA and other countries?
Because this is very surprising in the – in 21st century, if we see a Prime Minister flee from one country after killing thousands of people, after making injured thousands of students. Like, number of incident we have seen, we have seen there was no internet even. Our friends were there, our family member was there, and someone needs to take the responsibility and how –in what capacity India is keeping her?
Bronwen Maddox
Thank you for the question.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
As you described, if I had the chance to show the one-minute video of – a one-minute video for the entire thing, so whatever somebody captured, you’ll understand what it is, how did things happen, how terrible things, how cruel things happen. So, it’s not one minute, it goes on month after month that happened and came to the peak of this in July, and finally 5th of August, the government disappeared.
So, all this anger is in there, and the whole anger and everything is now transferred in India, because she, the Prime Minister, went there and started – not only she is living there. The problem is, when I had a chance to talk to Prime Minister Modi, I just simply said, “You want to host her. I cannot force you to abandon that policy, but please help us in making sure she doesn’t speak to Bangladeshi people the way she is doing.” She announces on such and such days, such and such hours, she will speak, and the whole Bangladesh get very angry, that “Why is she speaking?”
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
“Why is she keeping this whole anger thing inside of us now?”
Bronwen Maddox
And is India doing what you asked?
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
No, Modi’s answer, I quote, he said, “It’s the social media, we cannot control it.” What can you say? It’s a explosive situation, you can just walk away by saying it’s the social media. So, this is what is still going on.
Bronwen Maddox
May I ask you, I believe in technical terms…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Yeah.
Bronwen Maddox
…you’ve written an informal, an unsigned diplomatic note…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Yes.
Bronwen Maddox
…to India…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Yes, we did.
Bronwen Maddox
…asking for her extradition…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Absolutely.
Bronwen Maddox
…and they’ve noted that it has arrived.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Yeah.
Bronwen Maddox
But does that mean in a sense, you’re leaving it to the next government?
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
This will continue. I mean, this is…
Bronwen Maddox
Yeah, but it is…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Now, in the…
Bronwen Maddox
…not the…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
…meantime, another stage has come…
Bronwen Maddox
Yeah.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
…just want to add. Now, there’s a case, the International Criminal Tribunal has started the trial process. They sent notices to Hasina for all the crimes she has committed, part of the crimes. There are so many other crimes coming up. So, they have to respond to that notice, this is a legal notice now. So, we have to go to the Interpol and all the other things that happen through that. This is the process that we’re following and we want it to be very legal, very proper. We don’t want to make sure that we do something out of anger or something. The – we want to build the best of relationship with India. It’s our neighbour.
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm hmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
We don’t want to have any kind of basic problem with them, but somehow things go wrong every time, because of all the fake newses coming from the Indian press. And some – many people say it has connections with the policymakers and the top, and so on. So, this is what makes Bangladesh very jittery, very, very angry. We try to get over this anger, but they – the whole barrage of things keep happening on the cyberspace. We can’t just get away from that. Even if I try to peaceful – suddenly they say something, do something, anger comes back.
Bronwen Maddox
Okay.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
So, this is our now big task, to make sure that we can have at least a peaceful life, to go on with our life, to create the life that we are dreaming about.
Bronwen Maddox
Okay, thank you. I’m going to take two now, who’ve been very energetic. Right by the wall, yeah, you, and then I’m going to take the one who has been – yes, you, who is going like that, right at the back, yeah, you, pointing at our own head, yeah.
Nazim Uddin
Thank you, Professor Yunus.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Thank you.
Nazim Uddin
My name is Nazim Uddin. I’m the Chairman of Chattogram Samity UK. I was born just two miles away from your birthplace…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Okay.
Nazim Uddin
…so, with that disclaimer, I wanted to ask a question to you. Will you seize this opportunity, this moment, to break free from fascist structure and system, and then allow the people to vote for the reforms that you are taking and embed the – that reform into a constitution, and through referendum, allow people to vote for it? As far as I am aware, about 20,000 comments that I read on social media, 95% people support your reforms. We don’t want to be hostage to political parties. Why don’t you just go back directly to civic societies and the people, and allow them to vote whether they would like to go ahead and change Bangladesh for the future and make it a real tiger for the world economy? Thank you [applause].
Bronwen Maddox
Okay, thank you. I want to be clear, are you asking for a vote on the Charter?
Nazim Uddin
Absolutely.
Bronwen Maddox
Right.
Nazim Uddin
What I’m asking is that July Charter, of course, will be a legally binding agreement…
Bronwen Maddox
Yeah.
Nazim Uddin
…but in order to then sustain that reform, it needs to be structurally built in within constitution.
Bronwen Maddox
You’d like a vote on that.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Yeah, we heard about that, about having a, kind of, referendum on the issues that we have. There are so many complicated issues. The argument is the referendum will be meaningless, because most of the people don’t even understand what you’re referring – what they’re voting for. So, people will laugh at it, that it doesn’t mean – make any sense. So, it’s the Politicians presenting the people, all parties, they are involved in all these political issues and all the national issues, and they’re – they’re supposed to understand, they’re supposed to debate. If they have agreed together, the – all parties, that’s what we are focusing on, all parties, then it’s more real than giving it to a referendum of all the package. It’s a big package. So, this is what – the part we took.
Bronwen Maddox
Referendums have lots of problems…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Yeah.
Bronwen Maddox
…with them, as many countries know, but…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
You must be referring to something, they are smiling.
Bronwen Maddox
But it would answer the point, the…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Yeah.
Bronwen Maddox
…challenge to you, that this Charter is in some way not democratic. We can come back to that. Let me come to the – yeah, you, who’s stood up, you’ve been very energetic.
Saif Uddin Khaled
Chief Adviser, welcome to London…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Thank you.
Saif Uddin Khaled
…on behalf of British Bangladeshi community. I am Councillor Saif Uddin Khaled. I’m also a practising Barrister, British Bangladeshi practising Barrister, in London. My – I have two questions for you.
Bronwen Maddox
Could you…?
Saif Uddin Khaled
How confident are you…
Bronwen Maddox
Could you possibly have just one?
Saif Uddin Khaled
I’ll – is very quick two questions. I’m not going to make a statement. How confident are you that the political and democratic ogres will be well equipped to hold a general election, a credible election, with level playing field, by April 2026?
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
We’ll try our best.
Saif Uddin Khaled
And secondly, British Bangladeshi community would like to have a meeting with you. Do you have a plan to meet British Bangladeshi community who are eagerly waiting to meet and have view exchange with you? Thank you, Chief Adviser.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Thank you, thank you very much for inviting. I wish we could, but our programme made such a packed programme, we are rushing from one to the other. Thank you so much, but definitely we’ll try to keep in touch. Thank you.
Bronwen Maddox
We can take this as…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Very kind of you.
Bronwen Maddox
…part of the meeting. I’m going to the woman in a white shirt there. Sorry, I can’t quite see, yes, okay.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Hello.
Dr Zoe Mandich
Professor…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Hi.
Dr Zoe Mandich
…my name is Dr Zoe Mandich, and I’m very, very interested in Bangladesh and especially the young generation, the generation which has stood up for justice, and this is a role model for all of us. My question is that with the new technology, such as AI, what can be done? What is in your policies and support you are giving to that ten million student who rose in terms of, you know, having a hopeful future, getting your foot place in the market, in the global market, for future and for jobs? And there are obviously countries around you that are running special AI programmes. Is there anything that we can do to help and support the students especially? Thank you.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Definitely. Thank you, thank you for your offer, it’s very important offer. We want to be supportive of the young people as much as we can, and I try to bring to the notice of the world and notice of people in Bangladesh, Bangladesh is a very unique country. It is the 8th most populous country in the world, don’t forget that. There’s a huge number of people in that country, 180 million people, in a very tiny space. The most important part of that, it’s not about the density of the population, is about the age of the population. Half the population of that 180 million, 90 million people, is under the age of 26 and younger. So, this is a unique feature of Bangladesh, where many countries getting older and older, they don’t have people to work in those countries, Bangladesh is getting younger, younger, and young population everywhere, and very talented young people, not just young people, very talented, very creative young people [applause].
I get goosebump when I think about this. This is a – this is more than goldmine. You can do anything in the world with this young population, only if we can run our country right, because this is needed, not by Bangladesh, it’s needed for the whole world. I was recently visiting Japan, amazing thing, request they’re making, “Please send your young people to Japan. We want to take as many as you can send.” So, we signed two agreements in this trip to send 100,000 young people to come – go and work in Japan [applause]. And I said, “Please keep these doors open so that we can continue to bring young people from Bangladesh, boys and girls, not just boys, boys and girls, to come to Japan and do everything that you need to do. Because you don’t have any population to run your factory, run your businesses, run your buses.”
Their buses have stopped, they have no Driver. The taxis don’t function, there’s no Driver. “Your businesses, shut down, because there’s no people who run the business.” Their agriculture stopped, abandoned, because nobody is there, the machines are there, farmhouses there, land is there, no people. I said, “Okay, we will be very happy to help you, to send our young people.” They said, “Only thing you need to do, teach them how to speak Japanese.” I said, “We’ll do that, we’ll do that” [applause].
Bronwen Maddox
That’s a great answer.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
So, we are very lucky country, that’s what we said, we’re a very lucky country to be so resourceful with human beings.
Bronwen Maddox
Great.
Member
I have a question on the back of this one, please.
Bronwen Maddox
No, no, can I – I’m sorry, I’m going to come here to the front row. There’s a storm of people with things to say. Please.
Member
Thank you, give me a chance. Salam alaykum…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Salam.
Member
…Dr Yunus. First time I met with him in France, when he grabbing the check, fair.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Yeah.
Member
Second time in 2019 when Bangladesh problem is ascending.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Yes.
Member
This time Dr Yunus held one meeting in Paris, this time I was there. Third time I met with him in Spain.
Member
No, can you…?
Member
And I disappear.
Bronwen Maddox
Yes, sir. So, it’s a – this is a wonderful history, but please could you get to the question?
Member
Thank you, today I am – thank you for everybody to have this meeting about a Bangladesh discussion, but I want one question, Dr Yunus, please. Held the election upcoming 2026, in – you declare in April, we want to see for the foreign Bangladesh people, also, we have to give a right for vote. This is me.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
That’s right.
Member
Thank you.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
That’s our promise. We’ll do that, thank you.
Bronwen Maddox
Okay, thank you. Sorry, I’m going to take the woman in the second row here, yeah.
Dr Halima Begum
Thank you.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Thank you.
Dr Halima Begum
My name’s Halima Begum. I represent Oxfam, but mostly I’m here representing my mother, who cannot be here today, and it’s an honour to be in this space with you today, Chief Adviser. My question is…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Please give my salam to her.
Dr Halima Begum
Thank you very much, she will be so pleased. The question, really, I have is, how much security can you offer to the protection of women’s rights and gender? Because often, when we see challenges around democracy, it’s women who are then exposed, and as we know, the rollback of gender is quite a significant concern at the moment. Thank you.
Bronwen Maddox
Thank you very much.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Thank you.
Bronwen Maddox
There are not so many women…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
We had the Women’s Commission…
Bronwen Maddox
…in this audience here today, so thank you for the question.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
…very bold recommendations, women are outspoken. There are many members in our Cabinet represent them, women Cabinet Members. So, the status wise, we are doing the best possible way. We are not perfect. Definitely Bangladesh has a lot of difficulties in getting all the rights established in a open and fair way, but government is committed to establish them. That’s all we can assure you, thank you.
Bronwen Maddox
Thank you, and the woman here in green on the aisle.
Member
Thank you so much. I’m not a woman, I wanted to…
Member
No, you’re not…
Bronwen Maddox
No, sorry. I’m so sorry. It was a very good beginning, let me see if we can get you in, as well, yeah.
Zamira Kanapyanova
Thank you very much.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Thank you.
Zamira Kanapyanova
Is it on?
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
It’s working.
Bronwen Maddox
It’s on.
Zamira Kanapyanova
Your Excellency, welcome to London. My name is Zamira Kanapyanova. I work for Chevron, so we’re one of your, you know, largest investors…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Yeah.
Zamira Kanapyanova
…we’ve been partnering with your country for over 30 years. My question is what your government – what actions your government is taking to attract foreign direct investments into Bangladesh, and specifically into the energy sector? Thank you.
Bronwen Maddox
Thank you.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
We are very, very active on that. We have been holding summits of investors and Chevron is a participant on that. We’re inviting many other companies to come and invest, and we are promising them something very important, that you don’t have to come and invest here just to sell your things to Bangladesh.
Bronwen Maddox
Hmmm.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Bangladesh is offering itself to be the production hub for the world, not just for Bangladesh. So, we provide the young people that are ready to work for you, and we provide all other facilities, so that you can – a plug and play situation. You bring your factory, produce it, and sell it to the world. In return, also we are promising that we will build our fact – port facilities in a worldclass way, so that you don’t have any difficulty in bringing things to Bangladesh and sending out your products that you have produced here.
So, that’s how we are bringing the investors, not only for Bangladesh, we also keep them – remind – keep reminding them, “You have a big market right here, not just Bangladesh. We can – you can produce to Bangladesh, we have all the communication things we’ll fix up to deliver it to Nepal. Nepal is a country that cannot access to the ocean, so we will give the opt – access to the ocean. And you produce it, bring things through Nepal to Bhutan, even the six – Seven Sisters in India, where also we open up.” So that we all prosper together. This whole region is a potentially very attractive region for productions. So, we are inviting all the companies to come and make use of all the facilities that we are creating. Thank you.
Bronwen Maddox
Thank you, and I’m going to take a couple of questions from online. There are brilliant questions online, particularly about the election process. I think we’ve covered as much as we can in the time, but thank you for the questions. Let me take a pair of questions, which are on the Bangladeshi community in the UK. One from Animo Chaudhary, saying, “Your Excellency, Bangladeshis living in the UK they are sometimes regarded as a disadvantaged community in comparison to others. What advice would you offer to help shape…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
I am…
Bronwen Maddox
…a more prosperous…
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
…shocked to hear that.
Bronwen Maddox
…prosperous future for our – for them?” And then there’s one from Katie Dominy, saying, “What would you like the British Bengali community to do to help Bangladesh?”
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Absolutely. This is an opportunity of lifetime, that you are here, you’re lucky that you have access to so many knowledge and success and services and resources. Please bring it to make changes happen in Bangladesh. This is the time for Bangladesh to change fundamentally, not just a touch and go kind of thing. It’s fundamental changes Bangladesh is waiting. One of the thing we’re encouraging to build up apps, so that you can tell us who’s willing to do what, what kind of facilities, what kind of knowledge, what kind of pr – ideas that you can share with us. So that you can come and – the – help us to build the country that we are all trying to help transform itself in the quickest way possible.
Is – the potential is there, simply connections with the people. You are here is a tremendous resource for us, here, in the USA, in Japan, in many other countries, the Bangladeshi community, very resourceful community, and we will be very happy to have your support and your work. Thank you.
Bronwen Maddox
On that note, we are going to have to stop. I am so sorry, there are so many questions up [applause]. Thank you.
HE Professor Muhammad Yunus
Thank you. Thank you [applause].
