Yunus urges businessmen to help build new Bangladesh

Chief advisor Dr Muhammad Yunus today urged the businessmen to work together with the interim government to help build a new Bangladesh as dreamt by students.

“The student-people uprising has brought an opportunity to build a new Bangladesh. We want to create a new fresh Bangladesh from the rotten one of the past. Let us work together to this end,” he told a business dialogue here.

International Chamber of Commerce, Bangladesh (ICCB) and 15 other business bodies arranged the national business dialogue at Hotel Intercontinental in the capital.

The chief adviser said it is not a fiction at all as he firmly believes that it will be possible to build a new Bangladesh if all come forward to achieve the goal.

Expressing his hope that it is quite possible to build new Bangladesh as dreamt by the youth if all works together, the 2006 Nobel laureate said, "Businessmen are the proof that we can do great things. You have become entrepreneurs with great courage.”

He said they (businessmen) have become industrialists overcoming all odds and they have managed to do it as they are world class entrepreneurs.

“You will be able to build a new Bangladesh by utilising the opportunities that the youth have brought through a mass uprising,” Dr Yunus said.

He said the opportunities that the youth have brought in exchange of their bloods will not come before the nation time and again.

“The new dream that they have awakened in your mind, if that dream is reflected in your life, you will also be a part of fulfilling that dream,” the chief adviser said.

He said the 170 million people of Bangladesh know each other and they are connected with each other. There is no country in the world that people are so close to each other, he added.

“This mutual bond is our greatest strength that can help us fulfill our dreams,” Prof Yunus said.

Reiterating the commitment to building a new Bangladesh, he said as long as they stay in the government, they want to work together for the betterment of the nation.

He said the commitment of the interim government is to do everything for the new Bangladesh so that they can say this country gave them an opportunity and they utilised it.

Mentioning that the student-led revolution against dictator was not a conventional movement, the chief adviser said it was not an ordinary one.

Many of those, who embraced martyrdom during the student-people movement came out of the house with a final farewell, he said, adding that they made up their minds that they were ready to sacrifice their lives for which they took to the streets.

Prof Yunus said the student and people joined the movement were determined to achieving their goals to build a new Bangladesh free from all sorts of discrimination.

The chief adviser said the youth sacrificed their valuable lives for the sake of building a 'new Bangladesh', where they were born and brought up.

But, he said, their (students') lives became unbearable due to losing lives of students, while people of all walks of lives stood by them.

"There were no such people in Bangladesh who did not support them and in exchange of their lives, we have a new opportunity," Dr Yunus added.

Pointing out that there was no alternative to the uprising to get rid of the rotten situation and subsequently the student movement suddenly changed the overall scenario.

"No more decay . . . we want to stand as a healthy and strong nation," the chief adviser vowed in his address.

Putting emphasis on the implementation of reforms in the building Bangladesh as per the desire of the students-public movement, Dr Yunsu said, "Don't just leave the reform to merely the government . . . let's reform together. Where you see mistakes, ask yourself - get out from there. Give up the wrong path considering the supreme sacrifice of our boys".

Mentioning that the government wants to build a good tie between the workers and the owners, he said, "During our tenure, we want to build a good relationship between the workers and the owners as well. We are yet to join the upcoming Geneva Convention. Give us courage, come forward and let us all sign the ILO Convention".

The chief adviser called upon the employers to share the things what workers deserve.

Referring to many barriers to doing business in Bangladesh, Professor Yunus said, "There is no limit of obstacles in businesses. Doing business is a big struggle. However, we will work together as members of one family both in the government and outside the government as well to overcome these obstacles".

Bangladesh would lose some advantages in terms of exports if it is graduated to an upper middle-income country from a lower middle-income one; but the country has to acquire the ability to be a strong contestant in the competitive world, he told the businessmen.

The head of the interim government also asked the businessmen to start social businesses standing besides the country's marginalized people, saying, "Build a social business in your village, upazila or your business establishment areas. Social businesses, including improving clean water, healthcare, education and the environment can be made.

"You make investment not for profit, but for the help or benefit of others," the Nobel laureate added.

In the meeting, finance advisor Salehuddin Ahmed, planning adviser Wahiduddin Mahmud and former Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) president Mir Nasir Hossain, on behalf of the businessmen, also spoke.