Yunus to deliver speech at Al-Azhar University on Thursday

Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus will deliver a speech at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, the capital of Egypt, on Thursday.

He is paying a two-day tour to Egypt to attend D-8 Summit. 

"The chief adviser is scheduled to deliver an address at Al-Azhar University on December 19," said Yunus’s Deputy Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad Majumder.

He said that Prof Yunus will address the Egyptian university as part of an invitation of Al-Azhar Al Sharif's Grand Imam Ahmed Eltayeb.

During a meeting at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in the Azerbaijan capital Baku on November 12 last, the Grand Imam invited the Bangladesh chief adviser to deliver address at Al-Azhar University.

During the tour, the Chief Adviser will join D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation known on December 19.

On the sidelines of the summit, he is likely to hold bilateral meetings with the heads of the government of some D-8 member states, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said the deputy press secretary.

Meanwhile, Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus has arrived at 11 am local time on Wednesday to attend the D-8 Summit. 

Mohamed Shimi, the Minister of the Public Business Sector of the Arab Republic of Egypt, received him at Cairo International Airport, the Chief Adviser's Press Wing said.

Chief Adviser left Dhaka for Cairo on Tuesday night on a two-day state visit to attend D-8 Summit scheduled to be held on December 19. 

A flight of Emirates Airlines carrying the chief adviser and his entourage departed Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 1:20 am, CA Deputy Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad Majumder told media.

The summit is being held under the theme "Investing in Youth and Supporting SMEs: Shaping Tomorrow's Economy."

Founded in 1997, the D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation, known as Developing-8, was that promotes development cooperation among its member states.

The D-8 members are Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Turkey.

The D-8 countries comprise about 14 percent of the global population.