"I think there is a need for better social security to address terrorism everywhere. Only political coalition will not succeed," he told The Daily Star in an exclusive interview on Wednesday in Dhaka.

Attali, who served as special advisor to former president of France Francois Mitterrand from 1981 to 1991, noted inequality in Bangladesh is not going down. When wealth is coming and is unevenly distributed, there is a risk of development of frustration and some killers can find ways for fusing the frustration, he said.

"You [Bangladesh] have entered the classical phase of development of capitalism where accumulation is going more to minority [few people] and it is a very dangerous thing."

Bangladesh's main threat is lack of social consensus on the development strategy. Transparency, access to information, and efficiency in tax administration are key issues to be addressed immediately to bring about a rapid change, observed Attali, who launched an international action programme against massive floods in Bangladesh in 1989.

Democracy, social infrastructure, market structure, access to high technology and micro finance are five vital areas for a country to develop. Bangladesh is very much advanced in some areas including micro finance while it is far behind in other areas, he noted adding that in a democratic environment, transparency, newspaper, rule of law, lack of fear in everyday life are key to development.

Out of 80 million to 90 million beneficiaries of micro finance in the world, 15 million are in Bangladesh as it is a leading country in the world in this area, but micro finance alone will not bring all benefits, observed Attali.

"Bangladesh needs to focus more on social infrastructure for improving the quality of education, social security, health, water distribution," said Attali, also founder and first president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in London.

"I think it is necessary to build social consensus through transparency and information. Improving quality of public services as well as efficiency in tax system are also very important."

He is very keen on knowing what is happening in Bangladesh. "I met Professor Muhammad Yunus in 1988 and we launched together Planet Finance which has global network to assist micro finance by training, technical assistance, rating and financing."

Attali is founder and president of PlaNet Finance, an international non-profit organisation that uses the Internet to promote socio-economic development, provide micro financing and educate people worldwide about the role of micro-lending in poverty alleviation.

"We are in 60 countries including Bangladesh. We are here to help a Bangladeshi bank -- The City Bank Ltd -- to create SME department. We have also some Bangladeshi experts in our staff in Paris," he maintained.

Attali was amazed with the strength and quality of Bangladeshi people elaborating how people were fighting against a massive flood. Terming Bangladesh a strange country, he explained growth in per capita income, which is three percent, is the largest in the world. He said the number of poor is clearly declining and the poor living below $2 a day is also going down.

"My experience about Bangladesh was outstanding. You have a wonderful group of talented managers and experts. The country has tremendously changed in the last 16 years," he felt.

It is very important to have good and open trade relations with neighbours for any country, he said. "Success of poverty cut will depend on improving trade relations with neighbours. It is true for Bangladesh and it is true for India as well."

"Our organisation is here to help the development of institutions using micro-finance. We are not specifically dealing with technology, which is just one of the instruments we use to develop micro-finance, but we want to be the platform to support micro-finance globally in order to reach the MDGs and beyond.

One of the most important goals of the millennium development goals (MDGs) is fighting poverty, and he believes micro-finance is the best way to do so.

Attali stressed the need for having an efficient tax administration. "There is no efficiency solidarity without majority of citizens paying taxes. You can't hope to reach a solidarity without an efficient tax system," he thought adding that social security can be publicly owned or privately owned or it can be organised by private insurance companies.

Debt relief is not a way to address development. When a country gets debt relief it does not find any other banker or agency for lending and taking debt relief is a very bad strategy, said Attali, who recently served as Conseiller d'Etat in Paris and has advised the United Nations General Secretary on nuclear proliferation.