Chinese Minister Discusses Social Business With Professor Yunus
(From Left to Right) Madame Wang Ping, Founder and Chairperson of YouChange, Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, Founder and Managing Director, Grameen Bank, H.E. Mr. Fan Xiaojian, Chinese Minister of the State Council Leading Group Office Of Poverty Alleviation and Development and Mr. Wu Zhong, Director General of IPRCC, China seen with the borrowers of Grameen Bank, after a long discussion with them at its Joymontop Singair branch in Kitingchar last Saturday.
Dhaka, 23rd August, 2010:
Mr. Fan Xiaojian, Chinese Minister of the State Council Leading Group Office Of Poverty Alleviation and Development arrived on a week-long visit to Dhaka on August 21, leading a 10 member delegation on behalf of Poverty Reduction Centre in China (IPRCC). Minister Fan is in charge of a US $20 billion budget directed towards poverty alleviation in China. The delegation visited Grameen Bank's Joymondop Singair branch on Sunday, 21st August to learn more on the practical sides and its implementation process. Professor Yunus accompanied the delegation to the field. Later the delegation had a three-hour long discussion with Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus in his office in Grameen Bank. During the meeting, the two sides exchanged views on poverty reduction and social businesses for development.
Professor Yunus is a Senior Advisor of IPRCC. IPRCC was jointly initiated and established by the Chinese government, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other international organizations in December 2004, and it is designed to provide a platform for knowledge sharing, information exchange and international collaboration in the areas of poverty reduction and development.
Grameen Trust is already operating microcredit programmes in six counties in China and will soon start its operation of Grameen in Inner Mongolia and Grameen Sichuan. The two sides agreed to convene a Social Business Conference in China next year for the CEOs of top Chinese companies. Professor Yunus has recently launched a social business in baby food in Shanghai in collaboration with the Ministry of Health of China, YouChange - a civil society organization, and One Foundation. He is also represented in the board of Poverty Alleviation Fund jointly established by the Ministry of Poverty Alleviation and Danone Group in China to enable rural households to have access to microcredit. YouChange has been promoting social business in China. Ms. Wang Ping, who is the Founder and Chairperson of YouChange, is also visiting Bangladesh as a member of the delegation. Ms. Ping created the organization YouChange with the mission to implement the philosophy and approaches of Professor Yunus.
For more information please contact: Shiban Mahbub, Assistant Program Officer, Yunus Centre. Email: shiban@yunuscentre.org
