Govt, GB should work together for poverty alleviation: France

French President's special envoy Martin Hirsch on Monday said his country would like to see the Bangladesh government and the Grameen Bank (GB) of Prof Yunus come together to show their achievements in alleviating poverty on the international scene especially before the G-20 summit, reports UNB. "Our wish is that our friends of Bangladesh government and the Grameen Bank come together to show their achievements in poverty alleviation," he told reporters at the French Ambassador's residence here before his departure ending the 3-day visit to Bangladesh. The G-20 summit will be held in France in November this year. Hirsch said he came to Dhaka to brief Bangladesh leaders including the Prime Minister on the G-20 summit agenda and also to know the latest situation about the Grameen Bank and Prof Yunus. "I'm here to know the latest developments and relation between the political authority and the Grameen Bank," he told reporters. Hirsch said he handed over a letter of French President Nicholas Sarkozy to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during his meeting at Ganobhaban on Sunday evening. "We are deep friends of Bangladesh and the Grameen Bank" although there are differences on micro-credit financing, he said. Hirsch said despite difficulties here with Bangladesh authorities, Prof Yunus is familiar to the people of France and companies for his initiatives for alleviation of poverty as well as the new concept of social business that has attracted many leading French companies. "We didn't interfere even one millimeter into the internal affairs of Bangladesh and its legal and judicial process," he said. He said both the government and the Grameen Bank have lot of commonalities and they are fighting for poverty alleviation and women empowerment. They have so many things to offer to the outside world. These initiatives could be used in the framework of G-20. In reply to a question, Hirsch said Bangladesh enjoys trade surplus with France as Dhaka exports goods worth 1.5 billion euro against its import of 60-70 million euro. French Ambassador to Bangladesh Charley Causeret, who was present at the press conference, said French companies are less interested in Bangladesh because they feel that the country is plagued with calamity and poverty. He, said the French companies have been informed that Bangladesh has changed a lot since 1971 and welcomed Bangladesh's efforts to become a middle-income economy by 2015. Hirsch said some major French companies are inspired by Prof Yunus' new theory of social business and they want to come to Bangladesh to make investments.