RMG Sector
Consultative body of stakeholders to be formed soon
The government will soon form a stakeholders’ consultative committee on readymade garment to deal with the problems and prospects of apparel exports, workers safety and their rights in the garment industry. Representatives from ministries concerned, owners associations and labour organisations will comprise the committee, commerce minister Tofail Ahmed said on Tuesday. The ministry of commerce will play the role of coordinator of the proposed committee.
‘The proposed committee will be given adequate authority to deal with any imminent and longstanding problems in the apparel industry,’ Tofail told reporters after a meeting with US ambassador in Bangladesh Dan W Mozena at his secretariat office.
He said the government was working to update the existing EPZ act protecting interests of both investors and workers. In compliance with the US action plan to revive the generalized system of preference, the move to enact a new EPZ act or amend the same act has been undertaken, the minister added.
The US in July last year suspended GSP for Bangladesh on the grounds of poor safety records and inadequate labour rights in the country’s apparel industry. The US authorities subsequently asked Bangladesh government to implement an action plan that includes EPZ labour issues, among other must-do list, to restore the lost GSP privilege.
The fresh deadline to comply with the US plan has been re-fixed on April 15 as the next review will be conducted in May by the USTR. Dhaka failed to qualify in the first round of review conducted in January, sources said.
Tofail said the US has expressed satisfaction over the development made on their action plan as the government has meanwhile completed RMG workers’ database and completed first phase appointment of factory inspectors as stipulated in the action plan to get back the lost GSP in the US market.
‘We will send the progress report to the US by April 15, outlining implementation based on the action plan,’ the commerce minister said.
Mozena said they were happy with the progress being made on the action plan to restore the lost GSP facility in the US market.
He said the first meeting of the trade and investment cooperation framework agreement, scheduled to be held in Dhaka on April 24, will highlight and analyse the implementation status on the action plan.
The Ambassador hailed the government for recent inauguration of the database of workers employed in the garment industry.
-With New Age input
