On October 24, 2006, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing met in the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse with this year's Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, president of the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh.

Li congratulated Yunus on winning the prize for his efforts in helping improve rural economy and promote social development in Bangladesh, saying this is a honor for the Bangladeshi people, as well as a pride for Asia and all developing nations. The two sides agreed that as developing countries with large rural population, China and Bangladesh could strengthen cooperation on rural economy to lift the living condition of people. Li also briefed on bilateral ties, China's achievements and existing problems in poverty alleviation and the Chinese Foreign Ministry's efforts to assist the two counties of Jinping and Malipo in Yunnan Province.

Yunus introduced his bank, the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh. He said he started to give microcredit to poor people in his country in 1976 and he set up the Grameen Bank in 1983 to conduct the microcredit business in the rural areas in an all-round manner. The Grameen Bank serves only the poor and has currently 6.5 million borrowers, of which 96% are women. Up to now, the Grameen Bank and its branches have offered microcredit assistance to 40 million Bangladeshi people with a total value of 702.78 billion taka. The successful microcredit system has been introduced into over 100 countries in the world and has helped millions of people out of poverty. Yunus said since Bangladesh and China share a lot in common, they can learn from each other in poverty alleviation. He said he is ready to strengthen cooperation and exchanges with the Chinese side in this regard.

Yunus was here in China for the Grameen International Conference on Microcredit cosponsored by the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh and the Promotion Association on China's Microfinance Development.