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Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority( BEZA) is developing Mirsarai Economic Zone( MEZ), the largest industrial zone in the country, to generate more than 1,50,000 new jobs.“ Foreign and local investors have already proposed investing around US $ 10 billion in various sectors including readymade garments, shipbuilding, food processing, liquefied petroleum gas( LPG), steel, cycle and power plants and it will generate more than 1,50,000 new employment opportunities,” said Dr. M Emdadul Haque, Executive Member of BEZA.
The MEZ is the first economic zone in the country that will incorporate a residential area, a power plant, a hospital, a park, a seaport, a
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school and a university. Talking to Apparel Online, Haque shared,“ The size of the MEZ is 30,000 acres. The Government and BEZA have taken up this project to take forward the country’ s booming |
industries including the lifeline of the economy – the readymade garment industry.” Haque also said that 10 world-class fivestar hotels would be built inside the MEZ to facilitate the stay of |
foreign and local investors. About employment generation from the MEZ, he replied that the MEZ is expected to create approximately 3 million jobs over the next 10 years. It would have the capacity to export goods worth US $ 2 billion. However, manufacturing industries including the readymade garment industry, especially those that are labour-intensive, are required to boost employment generation and the economy as well. It could be mentioned here that the BEZA has been working to set up 100 economic zones by 2030, which would create jobs for one crore people and produce goods and services worth US $ 40 billion. It has identified 74 locations across the country for setting up economic zones. |
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Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association( BKMEA), the apex trade body to represent solely the knitwear industry of Bangladesh, urged the European Union( EU) to extend the Generalised System of Preferences( GSP), a trade privilege, for the next 12 years.
The BKMEA made the request at a meeting with the EU Ambassador to Bangladesh Rensje Teerink at the office of the trade body in Dhaka in February.
Mansoor Ahmed, BKMEA’ s first Vice President, handed over a letter of request to the EU Ambassador demanding the extension of the existing GSP facilities with the Sustainable Development Goals( SDG) implementation time frame of 2030. He told Apparel Online that the meeting was held in a very delightful environment and
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the EU Ambassador assured them of taking the matter into consideration.
“ We informed her about the projects undertaken for the welfare of the readymade garment workers, mostly for the women from the rural areas, and showed the blueprint of future initiatives for the betterment of the labour rights within the knitwear industry,” Ahmed informed us.
The letter further underlines the request of expanding the most desired trade advantage for another decade even after the graduation of Bangladesh from least developed to middle-income country, which the Government planned to declare by the end of 2021.
Teerink, however, said after the graduation of Bangladesh to a middle-income country, it would
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have to make preparations to be eligible for GSP Plus facilities in the EU. Under the initiatives of Accord and Alliance, Bangladesh has made significant progress regarding workplace safety and workers’ rights but many more are still to be done, she |
added. The BKMEA leaders also requested the envoy to provide visa to the Bangladeshi knitwear exporters within the shortest possible time as they( the exporters) need to visit the EU countries regularly to organise single-country trade fairs. |