Nobel Peace Prize winner Professor Muhammad Yunus leaves Dhaka tomorrow for Oslo to receive his prize at the official award-giving ceremony on December 10.
Dr. Yunus will also travel to Sweden and Denmark. In Addition he will visit England and France to attend a number of receptions in his honour including by Prince Charles on December 14 and French President Jacques Chirac on December 16.
Bangladesh Television (BTV) and Channel i will telecast the official Nobel prize-giving ceremony live on December 10 between 6:00 pm and 7:25 pm Bangladesh time. The ceremony will also be webcast live on the Nobel Institute website : www.nobelprize.org.
Grameen Bank board member and borrower, Taslima Begum, representing Grameen Bank, will jointly receive the prize with Dr. Yunus at the ceremony, said a Grameen Bank press release.
Dr. Yunus will also deliver the ‘Nobel Lecture’ at the ceremony to be attended by current and former heads of state and global political leaders, who will later attend the Nobel Peace Prize banquet in the evening.
The King and the Queen of Norway will attend the banquet for the first time in its history.
Prof. Yunus will also attend the Nobel peace prize concert to be hosted by Hollywood Star Sharon Stone, Angelica Houston. Yusuf Islam (Former Ly Cat Stevens), Lionel Ritchie, Simply Red Monica Yunus and Nrityanchal will perform at this concert.
Bangladeshi expatriates in Norway will also organise a programme in Oslo, where the prize giving ceremony will be telecast live for the audience who cannot attend the ceremony.
On December 12, Prof. Yunus will leave for Sweden where he will attend a banquet with the other Nobel prize winners at the Nobel Museum. He will also take part in the historic signing ceremony there.
On December 13, he will meet with the Swedish King and political leaders, attend a lunch and press conference with the Swedish International Development minister. Besides, he will attend a reception organised by the Bangladeshi community in Sweden.
The Nobel laureate professor will travel to Denmark on December 14 to present a speech at the biennial national speech organised by the Danish Council for Development before leaving for England.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, his wife Cherie Blair, British Chancellor of the treasury and the Governor of the Bank of England are also scheduled to meet with Prof. Yunus during his stay in London. He will also attend a reception to be hosted by Prince Charles.
British Baroness Paula Uddin has also organised a reception for Dr. Yunus on December 15 at the British Parliament, where the leader of the Conservative Party, David Cameron, is expected to attend. The Bangladeshi community in London has arranged a reception on December 15.
Professor Yunus will travel to France on December 16, where he will attend a reception given in his and Grameen Bank’s honour by French President Jacques Chirac. Professor Yunus and Chirac will jointly hold a press conference after the reception.
Dr. Yunus is scheduled to give a number of interviews to the global media, including one to the BBC on December 9, besides participating in a live interactive session with the CNN in Oslo on December 10 after the official prize-giving ceremony.
Professor Yunus will appear on Britain’s TV programme “News Night”, and will be interviewed by British newspapers The Sunday Telegraph, The Times, and France’s Le Monde.
Yunus will be accompanied by his family, Grameen Bank board members, officials and borrowers.
He will return to Dhaka on December 19.
