NEW YORK, Feb 1: Professor Muhammad Yunus received a standing ovation at the United Nations, where he spoke on Friday to a packed audience on the creditworthiness of the poor.

"We have to learn to’ dream together. Soon we will find the possibilities are limitless." he said, referring to the challenges he faced in setting up the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and the successes he has achieved there in bringing credit to the poor.

The speech, made at the United Nations Trusteeship Council chamber, was sponsored by several United Nations agencies. NGOs and the Bangladesh mission in New York.

Yunus used the occasion to vigorously defend credit as a human right and the need to extend it even to the poorest segments of the society, two days before the micro-credit summit scheduled to take place in Washington. 'This gives the poor self-respect, this empowers them, and in the process creates new job opportunities and removes poverty." he said.

Professor Yunus said the Grameen experience was being

replicated in a growing number of countries. 'To my knowledge, about 56 countries in the world now have some Grameen-type operation, some of them quite large and very successful," he said. Today, more than four million people have received micro-credit worldwide, half of them in Bangladesh. He gave details of the Grameen operations in Bangladesh, including the new businesses his bank was exploring. Wearing a Grameen check vest and proudly displaying it to the audience, he said this fabric, produced by artisans in Bangladesh and marketed by the Bank has already been exported to countries around the world. "We have already exported 12 million dollars worth of this fabric." he said.

During the question and answer session, several people questioned the wisdom of introducing Grameen Cellular phone and Internet technology to villages in Bangladesh, where literacy rate was still very low. "Grameen borrowers are usually better educated. Their children are almost always literate. By sending the cellular phone and introducing Internet, we'll demystify the new technology and raise the social status of our members," Professor Yunus explained.

The two-hour long meeting

generated great enthusiasm among international diplomats at the United Nations. Ambassador Daudi Mwakwaga. the current chairman of the Group of 77. applauded the speech as the "finest" he had heard in this building. "You bring inspiration and new confidence for our own fight against poverty." he said.

Meanwhile. Yunus's campaign for micro-credit for the poor received strong support from the White House. On Thursday. January 30. President Clinton said he would ask the US Congress to allocate one billion dollars over five years for credit assistance to microenterprizes in the US. His announcement was made during a special White House ceremony, honouring micro-credit organisations in the US.

First Lady Hillary Clinton has also launched a separate campaign to promote the concept of micro-credit. Speaking to the press on Friday for the first time in two years. Hillary recalled her visit to Grameen projects in Bangladesh and the encouragement she received there and elsewhere in South Asia from micro-credit projects. Along with Prime Minister Hasina of Bangladesh, she will serve as co-chairperson of the micro-credit summit. "I would like to do this more and if I can get the energy and time

I'll do it on a regular basis." Hillary told reporters at the White House.

Professor Yunus, who spoke to this correspondent at the end of his speech, said Hillary's support for the summit was crucial jo drawing intprim-tional attention. "When we first discussed the Idea erf the summit. we thought it would be a small thing. Now we have thousands of people coming. Heads of state and government, parliamentarians. even multinational banks are attending. It's terrific." he said.

' Professor Yunus said he knew the Clintons from as early as 1986, when Bill Clinton was Governor of Arkansas State. He liked the micro-credit idea so much that he wanted such initiatives to be launched in his State immediately. Yunus recalled.

Will this enthusiasm translate into real dollars and cents for micro-credit projects around the world? Professor Yunus pointed out the summit was not a "fund-raising" event. We are not looking for money. Once people know what microcredit can do for the people and the economy, money would chase us." he said. The summit, in his words, "will be a celebration of the success of ordinary people to crawl out of misery and abject poverty."