Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra met with Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus on Friday at Bangkok’s Shangri-La Hotel.
Abul Kalam Azad Majumder, the deputy press secretary for the chief adviser, informed BSS that during the meeting, Prof. Yunus asked about the health of Thaksin, a longtime friend of the 2006 Nobel Peace Laureate.
Soon after entering office in 2001, then-prime minister Thaksin traveled to Bangladesh and Grameen Bank with his colleagues. Inspired by the Grameen Bank microcredit program’s success, he created a microcredit program for Thailand.
Prof Yunus had been invited by Thaksin as chief guest in the national launching of the programme that year.
The potential restart of the airline route between Chiang Mai and Chattogram, which had reduced the duration of flights between Bangladesh and Thailand to one hour, was another topic of discussion.
On the first flight, Thaksin remembers traveling from Chattogram to Chiang Mai with Khaleda Zia, the prime minister of Bangladesh at the time.
Thaksin and Professor Yunus talked about other topics that they both found interesting.
The chief adviser asked Thaksin to back Bangladesh’s ASEAN membership proposal.
Prof Yunus also thanked the former Thai prime minister for his efforts to expand Thai-Bangladesh trade and cooperation during his time as the premier of the South East Asian nation.
He also sought his valuable support for cementing ties between the two countries and for helping resolve the Rohingya crisis and bring peace to that region.
During the meeting, they also discussed the global trade issues and expansion of microcredit and social businesses in rural Thailand.
Lamiya Morshed, senior secretary and SDG Affairs coordinator of the Bangladesh government, was present during the meeting.
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