Yunus was asked at today’s opening press conference if he had any advice for President Bush on Iraq. Yunus replied that “everyone has lots of advice for him I have my piece too.” He went on to explain that military means were not the answer to terrorism. He recommended that one must go to the root cause of terrorism. Why does terrorism happen? He suggested that a basic reason was a strong sense of injustice, as individuals, communities and countries. Whether real or imagined, one must address the causes of these feelings of injustice.

On politics in Bangladesh, Yunus was said to have redefined banking, so any plans to redefine democracy?

He explained that Bangladesh is going through a very turbulent time now and that something was missing in democracy today. He suggested that the people were moving and changing very fast and that the politicians had not kept pace.

When asked if he was planning to form a political party in Bangladesh, Yunus explained that the country is facing an upcoming election and that it also has a reputation for corruption at very high levels and in its day to day administration. He called for clean candidates to run for office so that people had a choice. He added that “it’s not that I’m seriously moving into forming a political party at this time.”

The other hot topic was TeleNor and everyone agreed to stay in “celebration” mode and not discuss the desire by Grameen to own the majority of the company and eventually make the women members who now own Grameen Bank the owners of Grameen Phone. Grameen Phone is the largest taxpayer in Bangladesh and is a joint venture owned 62% by TeleNor of Norway and 38% by Grameen Telecom, a non profit company of Grameen Bank.

Some Norwegians have privately commented that TeleNor executives may have missed a golden opportunity to praise its partner Grameen Bank on the Nobel prize. Widely covered in the Norwegian press, they feel the executives come across as defensive. Yunus talked about the wonderful relationship they had with TeleNor at today’s press conference and their more than 10 million subscribers. He added that the most important were the poor women, now some 300,000, who are wholesalers of phone service in the rural areas. They use solar energy to power their batteries provided by another Grameen company, Grameen Shakti, headed by Dipal Barua.

When Talisma Begum finished speaking Yunus underscored the point that she was here in Oslo not as a borrower but as the owner and governing board member of Grameen Bank. He explained that 9 of the 12 board members were elected from the village borrowers who are also shareholders of the bank. The government owns 6% and appoints 3 members. All of the board is present in Oslo as well as many of the senior staff including three of the original students who started out with Professor Yunus when he was teaching at Chittagong University in 1976.

Susan

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