Professor Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank jointly received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.  Global interest in the work of Professor Yunus peaked immediately.  Communications from around the world inundated Professor Yunus's office. Governments, institutions, companies, foundations, media, and individuals sent requests to learn more about of Professor Yunus and Grameen Bank, and how to emulate the success of Grameen Bank.

Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and leading newspapers eulogized Bangladesh's Mohammed Yunus, who won Nobel peace prize for economic empowerment of the poor, as a "messiah" and said India can learn a lot from his microcredit policy.

The Secretary-General is delighted that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2006 has been awarded to Professor Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, pioneers of the microfinance movement and long-standing allies of the United Nations in the cause of development and the empowerment of women.

"I want to congratulate Dr. Muhammad Yunus on winning this year's Nobel Peace Prize.

About twenty years ago, Dr. Yunus traveled to Arkansas to help Bill and me set up microcredit programs in the United States. Since that time, in my travels in Bangladesh and around the world, I have had the opportunity to meet many of those who are participants in Grameen's programs and hear their stories of the ways in which these loans have transformed their lives. I continue to be inspired by the beneficial impact of these projects on low-income women and their families, and I, like others, have nominated Dr. Yunus for this prize multiple times.