Davos Leaders Pledge Support for Bangladesh Reform Agendas

By Rafiqul Islam
DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 28 2025 – As Bangladesh Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus emerged from a meeting during the World Economic Forum (WEF), Timor-Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta came forward to greet him, a demonstration of how warmly the global leaders and dignitaries received the person tasked with leading the interim government.

During his four-day tour, Yunus participated in at least 47 formal events at the WEF, including with four heads of government or state, four minister-level dignitaries, ten heads or top executives of UN or similar organisations, 10 CEOs/high-level business persons, nine WEF-organized programmes, eight media engagements and two other events.

During the meetings, the Bangladesh interim government chief discussed a range of issues: the Bangladesh economy, the recovery of stolen money, Bangladesh reform agendas, the Rohingya crisis, social business and investment.

During a discussion with Klaus Schwab, executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, he described the process of rebuilding the country, including restoring law and order and the economy and this involved understanding where the ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had left the country.

“After so many killings, the law and order situation became very critical …The next thing you do is build up the economy again; let the economic machine run … Immediately after that, I tried to appoint a committee to prepare a white paper so they were stocktaking… to understand what we inherited from the previous government.”

Yunus said he was shocked by the amount of money laundered from the country. “The estimated calculation was about USD 17 billion from the banking system that just loaned that away.”

In addition, over- and under-invoicing and other legal channels resulted in USD 16 billion per year being shifted away—it was as if a tornado had hit the economy.

Bangladesh Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus with World Economic Forum Founder and Chair Klaus Schwab. Credit: Press InformationDepartment, Bangladesh

Yunus said they needed to secure the garment industry.

It was also necessary to restore trust in the judicial system where people had disappeared and many, especially the political opposition, were charged with unspecified charges during the 16 years of rule. Even Yunus himself was to be arrested, he told Schwab.

Despite the issues, he was optimistic that the young people were the solution; however, the changes needed were qualitative.

The young generation in Bangladesh was creating their own world through entrepreneurship and technology and should be consulted in their future—even allowed to vote at 16 rather than the traditional 18 years of age.

“They’re smarter than any other generation because of the technology they have. They (already) know what we’ll be teaching them today. There’s nothing surprising for them.”

Resolve Rohingya Crisis

Included among world leaders Yunus met was German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who had expressed eagerness to meet the 2006 Nobel Peace Laureate.

During the meeting, the two leaders discussed the circumstances that led to the July uprising in Bangladesh, Bangladesh’s relationship with its neighbours, the Rohingya crisis, and the security situation in Myanmar.

Yunus sought Scholz’s cooperation in creating a safe zone for Rohingyas in Myanmar’s Rakhine State under the supervision of the United Nations (UN).

Scholz agreed, saying, “You can be assured that we will support you.”

In August 2017, the Myanmar army started an armed breakdown on Rohingya Muslim minorities in Rakhine State and forced them to flee their homes and take shelter in Bangladesh. Bangladesh hosts over one million Rohingya refugees as of June 2024, according to the UNHCR. The majority of the forcibly displaced Rohingyas live in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar.

During his visit to the WEF, Yunus also urged other global leaders to take immediate actions to resolve the long-pending Rohingya crisis and create a conducive and safe environment in Myanmar so that the displaced people could return to their home of origin with dignity.

Calling for putting the global focus back on the Rohingya crisis, he said the new influx of about 100,000 more refugees has added further burden on Bangladesh.

“The situation is getting complicated. They are pushing more Rohingyas to Bangladesh,” the chief adviser said during a meeting with UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi on January 21.

Assuring that his agency would support Bangladesh to find a durable solution to the Rohingya crisis, Grandi said, “We stand ready to cooperate with you.”

Yunus also broached Grandi about hosting a major global conference on the Rohingya later this year, saying, “Your voice will be more critical.”

Help Dhaka Bring Stolen Money Back

Yunus also asked foreign friends to return hundreds of billions of stolen dollars when he met global leaders in Davos, especially the USD 16 billion that was laundered abroad each year from Bangladesh during Hasina’s 15-year “corrupt regime,” leaving the country in a state of plunder and the economy in a shambles.

While holding meetings with them, the Bangladesh chief adviser called upon the global leaders to send top experts, think tanks, journalists, and international agencies to Bangladesh to dig into how a daylight robbery was committed during Hasina’s regime.

Bangladesh informed the global leaders of its efforts in recovering the laundered money, mentioning that the interim government had formed an Asset Recovery Committee and a task force to recover stolen assets. Meanwhile, the Bangladesh government has targeted the top 20 money launderers initially to recover the stolen assets.

At a meeting with European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde, Yunus asked for help in recovering billions of dollars stolen from Bangladesh during the previous regime.

“Some USD 17 billion alone were taken out from the country’s banking system by oligarchs close to the dictatorship, and USD 16 billion were siphoned off annually during the 15 years of Hasina rule,” the chief adviser told Lagarde. “It was a massive highway robbery.”

Assuring that she would support the Bangladesh government’s move to recover the stolen money, Lagarde recommended that Bangladesh should also seek help from the IMF to recover and bring the money back home.

World Leaders Support Reform Agendas

After the fall of Hasina’s regime, the Yunus-led interim government has taken major state reform initiatives to bring back democracy and to hold free and fair elections in Bangladesh.

Many leaders, including Finnish President Alexander Stubb, World Bank Managing Director Anna Bjerde and former American Vice President Al Gore, vowed to support Bangladesh’s reform programmes.

Gore expressed his support for the country’s reform initiatives and fixing Bangladesh’s institutions and its democratic transition through a free and fair election.

During WEF, Yunus held bilateral meetings with Germany’s Federal Minister for Special Affairs Wolfgang Schmidt; King Philippe of Belgium; Thailand Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra; member of the Swiss Federal Council Ignazio Cassis; UN Secretary General António Guterres; DRC President Felix Tshisekedi; former United States special presidential envoy for climate John Kerry; and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

On the sidelines, Yunus held meetings with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk and Munich Security Conference Chairman Ambassador Christoph Heusgen, among others.

“Chief Adviser Prof. Yunus’s tour to Davos was very important. I would say it was a tour of historical achievement for Bangladesh,” the Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam said.

IPS UN Bureau Report

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