By Kim Se-jeong
Staff Reporter
A new ambassador from a developing country in South Asia had much to say about what Korea and his country can learn from each other.
First, "We believe we have a lot of things to learn from Korea," Bangladeshi Ambassador Shahidul Islam said.
Getting into his third week in Korea, Islam listed discipline as one of his earliest observations in Korea that would benefit the people of Bangladesh.
The ambassador cited the presidential inauguration last Monday as an example of discipline as nearly 50,000 people stood patiently throughout the ceremony in cold weather.
"It was really cold," he added with a smile.
Besides discipline, there are various advanced skills that entice Bangladesh, a country that strives for putting an end to poverty and reforming the government.
Yearly, about 60 Bangladeshi technicians, researchers and policymakers come to Korea for training programs ranging from agricultural to administrative skills.
As part of the Korean aid to developing countries, the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) has long been inviting them to Korea
Last year, a total of 62 Bangladeshi technicians were trained, and another 60 are scheduled to come this year.
Separated from KOICA, ministries of the central government and local governments also offer Bangladeshi professionals training courses that would last from several weeks to three months.
For example, since 2005, the education ministry invited Bangladeshi teachers - 25 teachers last year - to the Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education. The Daegu office gave them computer lessons and donated computers upon their departure, a Daegu City official said.
The ambassador said administration training, in particular, makes a change in the government of Bangladesh by improving the "efficiency" and "quality of workers."
Bangladesh is a country that shares border with India and Burma. It is one of the most densely populated countries in the world and has a high poverty level.
Nevertheless, there is a Bangladeshi innovation that Korean society is adopting: Microcredit.
The basic concept of Microcredit was to offer loans to those who were too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans. Applicants and recipients were mostly women, especially women heads of families whose economic independence would be out of the question without loans.
"The concept of microcredit began in the early 1960s with a government institution named the Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development (BARD)," the ambassador said. "But the person who figured out the effective application and made it popular was a Bangladeshi banker and an economist Muhammad Yunus."
Yunus established Grameen Bank in 1983, and on its web site, the name has the subtitle, "Banking for the Poor."
Yunus together with Grameen Bank were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, "for their efforts to stimulate economic and social development from below."
In Korea, microcredit was adopted in 2002. Joyful Union was created in 2002, and the year after, the Social Solidarity Bank (SSB) was established.
The bank has the same structure as the Grameen Bank. The only difference is anyone who is not qualified for traditional bank loans is eligible for a loan regardless of gender.
As a non-governmental organization, it is funded by donations, and charges a two percent interest rate.
Nevertheless, a marketing director of the bank said, 80 percent of the recipients happen to be women, which is reflection of vulnerable financial circumstances for women in Korea.
Modernization has created in Korea more room for working women regardless of their marital status. Yet, women remain borderline when it comes to financial capability, more so with women divorcees.
Likewise, in Bangladesh, loans like that are "extremely helpful for single mothers," after a divorce or the death of their spouse, the ambassador said.
Bangladesh embraces modernization, but is still an agrarian country, with 80 percent of its population living in rural areas, where family values are still preserved, he explained.
For the past five years after it first began, SSB has benefited nearly 1,200 individuals (526 businesses) with loans of 15 billion won.
The ambassador was very proud of Yunus, who presented a respectable image of Bangladesh, and did not miss to mention, regarding the banker's connection to Korea, that he had received the Seoul Peace Prize in 2006 and an honorary doctorate from Ewha Womans University in 2007.
Bangladesh and Korea established diplomatic relations in 1973, and have grown to become valued partners. For people of Bangladesh, Korea is a role model country with a significant size of Koreans in its territory. Koreans in Bangladesh number approximately 1,200.
For the Koreans, Bangladesh is a destination for investment. Textile industry was generated and driven by Korean investment.
Nine hundred million dollars worth of investment was made last year, according to government statistics.