Meeting with the founder of the Grameen Bank and Grameen Trust which are operating in 41 countries and has more than 5000 local branches, the founder of the microfinance and social micro credit, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Mohammad Yunus and the head of the Yunus Center Lamiya Morshed, Mr. Mirzayev held discussions on the strengthening of the bilateral cooperation as well as the development of social business and sustainable development priorities within joint cooperation.
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus highly appreciated the IEPF`s activities in the field of civil society and expressed interest in the joint cooperation. Noting the importance of the heralds of peace in the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict during the meeting, Mr. Mirzayev emphasised the significance of the International Yunus Center in the promotion of the peace and continuous development. Mr. Yunus considered it appropriate to host Baku Global Peace and Social Summit with the participation of the International Eurasia Press Fund, Yunus Center , Azerbaijan as well as other leading academic centres of the post- Soviet countries and to convey peace messages to the world.
Joint decisions have been made at the end of one hour meeting. The IEPF will translate the book about the biography and activity of Muhammad Yunus and which met with great interest by the majority of readers into Azerbaijani language. The opposite site expressed his consent on the preparation of the preliminary program of the realization of the his visit to Azerbaijan.
Then, meeting with the head of the International ASA organization with representation in 11 countries, Mr. Shafiqul Haque Chowdhury, Mr. Mirzayev spoke about t quite successful and long way of the non-governmental organizations in Bangladesh and particularly emphasised rapid development in Azerbaijan in this area, the significance of establishing bilateral relations as well as the importance of exchange of experience in this regard. He noted that his organization operates with a budget of about a billion dollars and employs more than 28,000 people. Mr. Chowdhury also noted that serious results will achieved in the development of civil society, prevention of poverty, in the fields of health care and education due to the joint cooperation with the IEPF.
Expressing his interest in the activities of the IEPF and believing that the cooperation will give a mutual benefit, Chowdhury said that “as the founder of the ASA Holding, ASA University and other institutions we are open for cooperation with the Azerbaijani civil society starting from a very small amount,”
Recall that the Forbes Magazine awarded the ASA holding with the first place among 60 civil society and microfinance institutes in 2014 for its activities towards prevention of poverty. The meeting was held after the familiarization with the activities of the ASA.
Then, Mr. Mirzayev and the IEPF representatives held fruitful discussions with the Board Member of the International Press Institute which is a popular organization in the Asian countries and brings together the journalists from 160 countries, the key person of the Boishakhi Television Mr. Bulbul Ahsan. The exchange of experience of media and television employees particularly emphasized during the meeting. Mr. Ahsan also stressed the importance of the development of bilateral relations towards the application of the activities carried out in the development of media in Azerbaijan in the Asian countries.
Then, attending the event on the occasion of the anniversary of the Campaign for Popular Education, Mr. Mirzayev has met with the defender of children, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Kailash Satyarthi.
Informing Mr. Satyarthi about the activities of the IEPF towards the development of the Azerbaijani civil society, the directions of the human rights, Mr. Mirzayev noted the importance of visit of the Nobel Prize Laureate to the conflict zones and invited him to Azerbaijan.
During the event, Mr. Mirzayev also exchanged views with Bangladesh Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, head of the Internal Resources Division (IRD) of the Ministry of Finance Mr. Jalil, the Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Nasir Uddin, parliamentarians, the representatives of the civil society representatives and agreement was reached on the future cooperation.
IEPF Information Department
