BANGLADESH CANVAS
Airports ' inefficiency costing a billion dollar to Bangladesh
Coming down heavily on the alleged delay in releasing garment samples by the country’ s airports, President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association( BGMEA), Md Siddiqur Rahman, has claimed that Bangladesh has been losing more than US $ 1 billion worth of apparel business yearly due to the‘ inefficiency’ of the airport authorities.
“ The samples from the airport are supposed to be received within 24 hours, but it in fact takes more than 10 days. The manufacturers do not get the samples from the airport in time,” alleged Siddiqur, while speaking to the media at the BGMEA office in Dhaka recently.
The International Labour Organization( ILO) has reportedly called upon the Government of Bangladesh to ensure that the draft of the proposed Export Processing Zones( EPZ) Labour Act, 2016, allows freedom of associations of the workers.
The suggestion was reportedly placed recently, following statements made by the
These kinds of irresponsible behaviour have irked the international retailers; they are either shifting work orders to other countries or delaying in placing orders or paying less to manufacturers.“ These inefficiencies have been costing us business,” reportedly underlined the BGMEA President.
It may be mentioned here that due to the fast pace of trend cycles nowadays, the retailers send samples to garment manufacturers in Bangladesh frequently through expensive air shipments and they expect quick execution of the work orders. However, the alleged delays by the airport authorities have reportedly irked many overseas
ILO for labour unions ' freedom
Government representatives and subsequent discussions at the 106th International Labour Conference – the ILO’ s annual convention, held in Geneva between June 5 and 16.
The committee reportedly said there has been insufficient progress in relation to previous discussions and more needs to be done to achieve compliance. retailers lately.“ Last week, a group of foreign buyers met me and complained about the inefficiency of the airport. We, therefore, want immediate improvement of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport and Chittagong Port,” Rahman further added.
This must take place without further delay. Investigations into all alleged acts of anti-union discrimination, including in case of Ashulia garment factories, must be conducted and the RMG workers illegally dismissed should be reinstated without further postponement, the ILO reportedly stated. The committee also advised that applications for union registrations are acted upon expeditiously and not denied unless they fail to meet clear and objective criteria set forth in the law, besides urging the Government to continue to effectively engage in ILO technical assistance to address the recommendations. The Government has been asked to report in detail on the measures taken to implement the recommendations in the next meeting of the Committee of Experts, due to take place in November.
Swedish firms keen to invest in garment industry
Two leading Swedish companies, namely Investor AB and ABB Sweden, have reportedly expressed their keen interest to work for the development of Bangladesh’ s readymade garment industry alongside the power sector. The Swedish entities mentioned this when the President and Vice President of Investor AB and CEO of ABB Sweden separately called upon Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, during her official visit to Sweden recently.
Investor AB is a Swedish investment company, founded in 1916 and controlled by the Wallenberg family through their Foundation Asset Management Company FAM. The company owns a controlling stake in several large Swedish companies with smaller positions in a number of other firms.
During the meeting with Hasina, Investor AB Chairman, Jacob Wallenberg and Vice-Chairperson Marcus Wallenberg, and ABB Sweden CEO Johan Söderström, praised the Bangladesh Premier on the country’ s socio-economic development under her leadership.
Earlier, Karl-Johan Persson, CEO of Swedish retail giant H & M had met Hasina in Stockholm. During the meeting, the Prime Minister highlighted various steps of her Government for the development of the garment industry. She also urged the buyers to raise the prices of RMG products saying that this would eventually benefit the workers. It may be mentioned here that Swedish retailer H & M imports readymade garments worth US $ 5 billion from Bangladesh annually. Bangladesh Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali and BGMEA President Siddiqur Rahman were also present in the meetings.
www. apparelresources. com | AUGUST 2017 | Apparel Online Bangladesh 35