Yunus for Saarc passport
Unb, Karachi
Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus yesterday urged the countries of the South Asian region to introduce Saarc passport to facilitate easy movement of people across the borders.He said this will enhance cultural and other relations among the people of the Saarc nations which can immensely help poverty alleviation efforts as well. "If people are allowed to move freely, they can share each other's experience and unlock their potentials to remove poverty," he said during an interactive session organised by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) at its headquarters' auditorium. "I believe people will feel proud of having Saarc passports as citizens of the South Asian region," he added. Top executives of different private and public commercial banks, micro-finance institutions and senior government officials attended the session with the acting governor of the bank in the chair. The Nobel laureate proposed for announcing a Saarc day and celebrating it annually through cultural festivals across the region. He also reiterated his call to introduce Saarc scholarships for students of the region, which, he believes, will help understand each other's problems and address those through collective efforts. The audience listened to Prof Yunus with great interest about his early experience in establishing the Grammen Bank and its success in alleviating poverty in rural areas in Bangladesh. They sought advice and technical help from the Nobel laureate in addressing the problems that the micro-finance institutions in Pakistan have been facing. Pakistan has about six micro-finance institutions (MFIs) established a few years ago with support from the Grameen Bank. The audience also supported the Nobel laureate's call for introducing Saarc passport and Saarc scholarships. He urged the Pakistani bankers to gear up micro-finance movement and prioritise their focus on women so that they can have easy access to micro-credit. He said it is imperative to give attention to women as they have been proved to be good entrepreneurs and they are more careful to utilise the fund. Before the interactive session, Pakistan State Bank acting governor and top officials held separate meetings to discuss the micro-finance operation in Pakistan.
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