Apparel Online Bangladesh Magazine February Issue 2019 | Page 45

BANGLADESH CANVAS
BGMEA polls on April 6th; 35 directors for the
body to be elected
Parishad was formed under the
leadership of Zahangir Alam, with
an aim to abolish what it calls the
culture of ‘election of compromise’.
Bangladesh’s apex apparel
manufacturers’ body,
the Bangladesh Garment
Manufacturers and Exporters
Association (BGMEA) recently
announced the election date for
the posts of 35 Directors of the
trade body.
As per media reports, the
Sammilita Parishad intends to
field Md Siddiqur Rahman as
the Presidential candidate while
Forum is reportedly planning to
field Rubana Huq (wife of ex-
BGMEA President Annisul Huq) for
the same post.
The polling will be held on
April 6, 2019.
It may be mentioned here that the
garment manufacturers have been
electing the BGMEA leaders, who
are generally elected for a period
of two years, from two councils
namely Sammilita Parishad and
Forum.
Keeping with the same, in 2015,
Md Siddiqur Rahman of the
Sammilita Parishad was named
as the President of the Association
Speaking to media, Siddiqur
Rahman reportedly maintained
that members of their panel will be
selected following discussions.
following a consensus between
the two sides. As per the reported
understanding, Sammilita
Parishad was supposed to lead
the Association for the term from
2015 while one selected from the
Forum was to be in charge for the
next term. However, as the current
board got three extensions, a new
council called the Swadhinata
“It will be decided later…,”
reportedly maintained
the President of BGMEA Md
Siddiqur Rahman as to whether he
will take part in the next election.
Chittagong Port's container handling capacity
grows by 9 per cent
The principal gateway to
Bangladesh’s exports and
imports, the Chittagong Port, in
2018 reportedly posted 9 per cent
year-on-year growth in container
handling.
“The growth is a bit slower
than the previous year’s 9.36
per cent although the volume of
containers handled was higher in
2018 than the previous year. The
growth is due to the increasing
foreign trade while underlining
that the port’s capacity and
efficiency would increase this
year with the implementation
of some of the expansion
projects,” said Admiral Zulfiqur
Aziz, Chairman, Chittagong Port
Authority Rear.
Chittagong Port reportedly handled
2.30 lakh TEUs (twenty-foot
equivalent units) more containers
in 2018 compared to that in 2017
while the figure was 2.19 lakh in
2017 compared to 2016.
to build yard facilities in the
proposed Bay Terminal site to
create more spaces in the port,”
observed Rear Admiral Aziz.
It further handled around 2.80
million TEUs of import, export
and empty containers in 2018,
up from 2.57 million TEUs in the
previous year.
“Projects for building new jetties
are ongoing while we are planning
It may be mentioned here that
responsible for the bulk of
Bangladesh’s readymade garment
export globally, the Chittagong
Port – which handles all sorts of
industrial raw materials (except
those used in the cement and
ceramics sectors) along with
commercial items, machinery,
commodity and chemical products,
etc – had to suffer from container
and vessel congestions last year
and the situation gradually
improved after the installation of
six gantry cranes in the latter
half of the year.
www.apparelresources.com | FEBRUARY 2019 | Apparel Online Bangladesh
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