Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Congress party, reached the capital of Bangladesh Dhaka on Friday, August 1, for a five day tour. The purpose of his visit is to meet the Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus and acquire knowledge of rural development programmes being run by him and his Grameen bank.

Professor Muhammad Yunus is a noted banker and economist, world famous for his successful application of microcredit for the poor. The rural development projects are being executed in Bangladesh by the Grameen Bank owned by Professor Muhammad Yunus in collaboration with NGO, Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC).

Sources inform that Rahul Gandhi was received at the airport by Mr Yunus and officers from the Indian high Commission amidst stringent security. It was revealed by the officers from BRAC and Grameen Bank that their suburban Gazipur and Singair projects will be visited by the visiting Congress leader. 

‘He will mainly visit the projects undertaken by BRAC and Grameen Bank,’ a foreign ministry official earlier said. It was also highlighted that Rahul Gandhi wanted to know if the same formula could be applied to the Indian rural sector also. Rahul Gandhi had met Yunus in Delhi the previous year and has already introduced micro-finance and women-empowerment projects at Amethi in UP.