The 4th Bangladesh Apparel and ’ Textiles Exposltion-'93 (BATEXPO '93) begins today at Sonargaon Hotel.

Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia will inaugurate the four-day BATEXPO, the annual international event of the apparel and textile manufacturers and exporters of the country.

This year's apparel fair is being held under the sole auspices of the the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers' and Exporters* Association (BGMEA) in which participants from India, Pakistan and South Korea are taking part for the ■first time. Speaking at a press conference on the eve of the fair, BGMtA president M Mosharraf Hossain said the country's garments sector earned 1.4 billion US dollar (five thousand and six hundred crore taka) in 1992.

‘If law and order, and the present labour discipline situation remains the same, we'll be able to earn more than three billion dollar in 1995," he hoped.

Outlining growth in the garments sector, the BGMEA chief said that the industry absorbed about two lakh people in 1992 and employs presently seven lakh workers.

Of the total, 85 per cent were female workers, he pointed-out

The total number of garments factories have also in-creased to 1450 in 1992 from 934 in 1991, Hossain said, adding that these factories imported more than 70 crore meters of cloth at a cost of 600 million US dollar.

The chief coordinator of BATEXPO '93 Feroz M Hassan. BGMEA executive committee member Jinnat Ali Mian, BGMEA vice president Al-haJ Makbul Hossain, treasurer Shah Alam Chowdhury and member of the executive committee M A Taher were present, among others, at the press conference, held at the BGMEA office.

Mosharraf Hossain said that the apparel industries of Bangladesh, which exports to more than 45 countries, was exploring new opportunities to Japan. Australia, the Middle Elast and the commonwealth of Independent States.

Bangladesh was the largest shirt and T-shirt exporter to EC countries, the seventh largest ready-made garment*

exporter to the United States and ninth largest to Canactn, he pointed ouL

The BGMEA president said that some 200 buying houses have been established to trade with Bangladesh.

Establishment of a backward linkage to the country's garments sector has become the prime need of the hour, he said, which would help create a competitive industry with the lift of the multi-fibre arrangement (MFA) after the Uruguay Round worild trade talks.

He felt the need for importing high-quality grey cloth under the back-to-back L C to help use of local fabrics in the garments Industries.