Credit is a human right: Chief Adviser
Dhaka: Professor Muhammad Yunus, the Chief Adviser to the interim government, said credit is a human right because it is related to people's livelihood.
He said, you cannot establish the right to livelihood without ensuring the right to credit.
A message from the Chief Adviser's press wing said that he made this statement at a sideline event of the COP29 conference in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, on Tuesday (November 12).
Bangladesh and the Netherlands jointly organized this sideline event titled 'Global Conversation: Access to Finance for Small Scale Farmers' at the Bangladesh Pavilion of the conference.
Additional Foreign Secretary Riaz Hamidullah moderated the event. The event was also attended by the Netherlands' Climate Envoy Bourbon-Parmar and Dutch Prince Jaime Bernardo.
The Dutch prince spoke at the event about how credit, insurance, investment, research and finance have increased agricultural production. Millions of farmers around the world need this support now, he said.
Speaking at the event, Yvon Pinto, Director General of the International Rice Research Institute, said that global rice production has increased since farmers received credit.
Jorim Schreven, Director of the Dutch Entrepreneurship Development Bank FMO, welcomed Professor Yunus for his extended moral support for the right to credit. He said that it is related to the people's right to know.
Professor Yunus said that every business needs money and investment. If a farmer is given credit, he can become an entrepreneur. A farmer not only grows crops, but also sells them in the market. If he is given credit, he can buy crops from other farmers and sell them to improve his life.
The Chief Adviser said that countries should reorganize their banking systems following the Grameen Bank model, so that credit is easily available to farmers, a significant number of whom are women. He commented that every country should have a social business banking law.
Currently, at least 110 universities around the world are teaching social business as a course. Citing this information, the Chief Adviser also praised this initiative.