French football star Zidane to arrive in Bangladesh Sun Nov 5, 6:31 AM ET
DHAKA (AFP) - French football star Zinedine Zidane is due in Bangladesh Monday for a two-day visit at the invitation of Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, founder of a bank that gives small loans to the poor.
ADVERTISEMENT
The three-time World Footballer of the Year was due to attend a ceremony Wednesday in the capital to mark the official opening of a food manufacturing plant in the northern town of Bogra.
The factory is a joint project between the French food giant Danone and Muhammand Yunus and his Grameen Bank which pioneered a unique system of microcredit that has lifted millions out of poverty.
Danone and Grameen Bank have a 50 percent stake each in the one-million-dollar plant which is aimed at producing nutritious food products targeted at people on low-incomes.
Zidane is Tuesday expected to meet borrowers of the Grameen Bank at a village near the capital, and visit young players of the Bangladesh Football Federation, said Dipal Barua, deputy managing director of Grameen Bank.
Yunus and the Grameen Bank were last month jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
The plant's opening ceremony had originally been planned to take place in Bogra, but the visit was scaled down last week.
Officials would not confirm media reports that the changes were made because of political violence last week in the country over the status of a caretaker government ahead of January elections that left at least 25 people dead.
et Bang ! la dèche
