Bangladesh will be a modern poverty-free nation by 2030

from The Daily Star

Hopes Prof Yunus
News World, New York

Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus envisaged that Bangladesh by the year 2030 would be a modern country free from poverty.

He said Bangladesh has achieved tremendous success in reaching the targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to eliminate poverty, reports News World from New York. If this success continues, there will be no curse of poverty, he said.

Yunus made the comments while giving an interview to Charley Rouge of popular US television channel PBS. The interview was aired Thursday 11:15pm US standard time.

The interview was recorded on the eve of the unveiling of his new book " Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism". The book hits US bookstores this month.

Yunus said if the country's microcredit programme continues, poor people will not be found. But none alone can make the mission a success; coordinated initiatives and efforts are needed to eliminate poverty.

He said, "I do not think that there will be poverty in the world by the year 2050. There is a possibility of eliminating poverty altogether even earlier. The delay could be due to world communities' deviation from the goal."

Referring to the Iraq War and the War on Terror, he said the USA and the rest of the world is so busy with these issues that poverty is not being considered as a priority. If all were united in the "War against Poverty", it could be eliminated much earlier.