A group of delegations of EU Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh arrived in Dhaka on Monday to start its initial discussion with the stakeholders to
chalk out the implementation way of its safety action plan.
The five-member delegation comprised of Philip Chamberlain of C&A, Aleix Gonzalez of Inditex, Melanie Steiner of PVH, Christy Hoffman of UNI global union and Monika Kemperle of IndustriALL along with its Bangladeshi representative Roy Ramesh Chandra held a meeting with Netherlands ambassador to Bangladesh Gerben Sjoerd de Jong on Monday evening.
They will hold meetings with International Labour Organisation officials, experts of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, leaders of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and the Exporters Association, Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association and the Bangladesh Employers Federation today.
The delegations of EU Accord will meet labour and commerce secretaries tomorrow while they will hold meetings with the officials of RAJUK, Fire Service and Civil Defence, ambassadors of different countries including the US and EU countries
and with the donor agencies and development partners like IFC, DFID and GIZ on August 1 (Thursday).
The delegations are likely to meet foreign minister Dipu Moni on Thursday but the programme is yet to be conformed, officials concerned said.
Roy Ramesh Chandra told New Age that these were the preliminary initiatives or meetings on the way of the implementation of the action plan.
‘It’s just a starting, a series of meetings will be needed to work out the detailed framework of the safety programme that targets to inspect the garment factories within nine months,’ he said.
Ramesh said, ‘We will discuss how the BGMEA and the BKMEA can be incorporated with the Accord and it will be needed as we are going to work in their factories’.
‘We also need to involve the government in the process as well as we have to work under the rules and regulations of Bangladesh,’ he added.
Ramesh, also the secretary of IndustriALL Bangladesh Council, said that they wanted to make a comprehensive and integrated action plan for a safe and structural integrated readymade garment industry in Bangladesh.
After three weeks of Rana Plaza disaster that killed over 1,100 people, mostly garment workers, a group of European retailers first signed an agreement to help Bangladesh garment industry improve workers’ safety standard.
The number of signatories increased to 70 from 30 in mid-May and now the numbers of signatories have reached to 84. Among the signatories are H&M, Carrefour, Marks & Spencer and PVH, the parent company of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger.
-With New Age input
