thought, it was moment to make or mar first impression on the head of state of the receiving country. Unease unto him Bangladesh envoy put up a bold face.

President resumed the discussion over Gawa [cup of Arab coffee] and an array of desert dates well laid out before his guest. "What is the secret of one woman becoming Prime Minister and another woman leader of the opposition in Bangladesh which is considered to be an Islamic country?", the President asked. He added that it was just a curiosity and the envoy might come across similar query in the Arab world. He was frank enough to admit that not being very familiar with Bangladesh culture and customs if his curiosity caused unintended offence, the Ambassador was not obliged to answer. The Envoy enthusiastically seized the opportunity to briefly revisit events in Sri Lanka in the neighbourhood of Bangladesh where following the assassination of the prime minister his widow Sirimavoe Bandaranayke succeeded him. The spotlight then moved on to Indira Gandhi, in closest neighbour India and the ascendancy of Benazir Bhutto in near-neighbour Pakistan provided more or less familiar setting for Begum Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina to take political leaderships in Bangladesh which is a

majority Muslim polity with secular outlook.

The South Asian scenario of political inheritance by daughters of assassinated founders of states or wives of slain presidents or prime ministers was rounded up with mentioning the epic struggle of Aung Sung Suukyi, daughter of assassinated leader of Burma, the other immediate neighbouring state of Bangladesh in the east. Apparently the President was intrigued at the unfamiliar and unconventional political developments in South Asia. He seemed to be drawn

in to comment that the neighbours the Ambassador mentioned had one powerful woman at the helm of affairs of state at one point of time. But in Bangladesh where two Muslim women continue to wield state authority for more than a decade at the same time either in power or in opposition, was unparalleled in the contemporary world. To him it was a unique case in political history and Bangladesh had earned a new image. He wished more and more success to the trend setting leaders in the sisterly country.

The Ambassador clearly came under spotlight in any diplomatic gathering for the emergence of a complete new kind of political leadership in Bangladesh. International hopes were high and goodwill were generous.

At the enthusiasm of the President, the envoy felt confident to face the second unknown question. After inviting to taste Tunisian dates and black olives, the President took the envoy to a different course to provide a glimpse of Tunisian basics. He stated that Islam was the state religion; Tunisia remained a fairly liberal and tolerant society. There were small Jewish community with synagogue in Djerba, a tourist resort and about 20, 000 Roman Catholics in complete harmony with 10 million Islamic population who are basically Arab Berber. Arabic was the official language, but almost everybody spoke some French which is taught from age six. Founder- president Habib Bourguiba made French compulsory from primary school.

In fact, a brief encounter with the Tunisian history under founder-president reveals that Habib Bourguiba fought out independence of his country from France in 1956 and founded the polity on the ideals of socialistic and secular moulds. To modernise the newly independent country Bourguiba set about reducing the role of religion in society by removing religious leaders from traditional areas of influence, such as, education and law. Probably the most significant step was the abolition of religious schools. This deprived the religious leaders of their grassroots educational roles in shaping society. The shari'a court was abolished.

Bourguiba also introduced major changes to the role of women in the society. His 1956 Personal Status Code banned polygamy and ended the practice of divorce by renunciation. His liberation of women put both man and woman on equal footing in society.

The envoy was apprised that Tunisian economy was a mixed bag in which both private and public sector participation relies heavily on tourism and on remittances from nationals working in the Gulf States. Government built the infrastructures for tourism industry and the private sector run tourism business which attract about five million visitors in good season. Living standard was generally good with per capita GDP around $1300. In spite of this, unemployment was the main social issue. The situation was not optimistic in view of the fact that most manufacturing units were small. To generate employment through setting up more small scale productive units President Ben Ali thought of Banque de Solidarity to extend loan facility to encourage small investors but he looked for innovative ideas.

He saw writings about Professor Yunus of Bangladesh in Western media like The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Times, La Monde and couple of interviews of the Bangladesh BANKER TO THE POOR published in the Newsweek. He could not recall to have seen a focus so intense and in such good light on a person from the third world and the institution he built to remove poverty. The prestigious press in Americas and Europe convinced him that Grameen Bank must have been a success story and a viable institution for the developing countries to fall back upon. Had it not been the case, Western media would not have sustained their focus on it for more than a decade. He wished to know more about the Grameen Bank and sought the envoy's assistance to procure literatures of the Bank since Tunisia maintains no resident mission in Dhaka.

Fortunately for the Bangladesh envoy he was not a stranger to the Grameen Bank. With a brief stint in the media he moved to the present occupation serving formative years in the External Publicity, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On a note of positive projection of Bangladesh abroad Grameen Bank had been brought to sharp focus from the External Publicity desk. At a time when flood, famine, pestilence, political assassination, corruption, violation of human rights, deaths in custody, strikes, senseless acrimony of political leaders on personal grounds, shameless distribution of largess on political dispensation filled in the foreign media, Grameen Bank was Bangladesh diplomats' flag mast to hold on to. One credible element a diplomat could write home about was Bangladesh's indigenous micro-credit concept developed through indigenous method by Dr. Yunus to answer crushing poverty of millions.

On the eve of the writer's leaving Dhaka to take up ambassadorial assignment in 1995, the then Foreign Secretary Farooq Sobhan, took him along with a group of diplomats to Grameen Bank for a briefing by Prof Yunus. His memory was fresh of Grameen Bank as he faced his host in Carthage palace. He explained that the Bank lends money only to the poorest -- landless, assetless people. Borrowers own 93 percent of total equity and the remaining 7 per cent, by the government. Only buying one share at three dollar, a poor per cent becomes a shareholder. Of the 2.4 million borrowers 95 per cent are women. Loan size is from seventyfive dollars to one hundred eighty. The President who was listening with rapt attention was apprised that in its nine hundred branches $ 3.7 billion was disbursed since inception in 1976 with repayment rate of 98 per cent.

The Ambassador was profusely thanked and a meeting was arranged with president of the Banque de Solidarity on the same day for further input. In the following year, on an invitation Deputy Managing Director of Grameen Bank Khalid Shams made a substantial contribution to the Banque de Solidarity to take off in the modular of the Grameen Bank. The replication met the imagination of the policy planners.

In 2001 it was time for the envoy to pull out his tent marking an end to his well fed and well paid gypsy life. Bangladesh too had completed one of its many full circles putting the opposition lady leader to the pedestal of power and put the one in power to the opposition chamber. Hardly any mention was made of high hopes that had been pinned at the beginning of the decade on the unique political leaderships and the fairer image the international community cherished to behold under the rare combination of rotational women premierships. But the peeping billboard of the Banque de Solidarity in between the rows of date trees on the Mohammed V avenue flashing in the neon light under the twilight of Tunisian blue sky carries a message of hope to come out of poverty trap. It speaks of Grameen Bank and the fair image it bears out for Bangladesh.

M. Shafiullah was Ambassador to Tunisia. He is now a Senior Research Fellow, Bangladesh Enterprise Institute.