Organises expect more int’l buyers this year
The three-day Bangladesh Apparel and Textile Exposition-2013 will begin on October 10 in Dhaka against the backdrop of two apparel factory disasters — Tazreen Fashions fire last year and Rana Plaza collapse this year. Organisers of the fair, however, expect that more international buyers would attend the exposition this year as the global recession has started to ease.‘In the wake of the tragic incidents we are once again in a tremendous pressure to ensure safe and sustainable working condition in the industry. This has been a major paradigm shift for us to realise change is inevitable,’ Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association president Atiqul Islam said while briefing members of the Overseas Correspondents Association of Bangladesh at the BGMEA office in the capital on Saturday.
Atiqul said, ‘We are stronger and confident than ever before that the buyers are with us through Alliance and Accord as well as the government and the International Labour Organisation through the national action plan.’
He said the BGEMA on its own had taken several initiatives like collecting structural and soil test reports from factories and handing those over to the ILO, moving generators to ground floor and checking electrical load, launching fire safety crash programme that has already covered about 1,000 out of 3,200 factories, recruiting 10 engineers to conduct random inspection of garment factories and hiring 30 ex-defence officials to form a fare safety training team.
The BGMEA leader said 82 retailers from Europe under Accord and 22 from North America under Alliance were working with them to assess building and fire safety and other compliances.
‘We hope we will overcome the current situation,’ he said.
Atiqul, also the chairman of national management committee of Batexpo 2013, said although the suspension of GSP facilities to the US market did not affect the garment export from Bangladesh but it would cause harm to the country’s image.
In reply to a question about the threat from the European Union to Bangladesh apparel factories if the compliances are not met, Atiqul said ILO, EU and Bangladesh signed 19-point compact deal in Brussels on July 8 and later US signed the deal on July 19.
He said the Bangladesh government had already amended labour law, formed a minimum wage board for fixing wages for the garment workers. Initiatives have also been taken to appoint 200 inspectors in December for apparel sectors and to improve law and order situation, he said.
In reply to another question, Atiqul said the factory owners had agreed to pay the outstanding wages before this Eid and decided to implement minimum wages for the workers as soon as the minimum wage board announces the award.
He said the Batexpo would be inaugurated by prime minister Sheikh Hasina at Sonargaon Hotel while the leader of the opposition, Khaleda Zia, would be chief guest at the closing ceremony.
-With New Age input
