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Altaf worried over MFA phaseout

3-day textile machinery show begins in Dhaka

STAR BUSINESS REPORT
Expressing concern over the survival of Bangladesh's readymade garment (RMG) industry in the quota-free regime from next year, Commerce Minister Altaf Hossain Choudhury yesterday called for improving competitiveness to face the challenges.
"The challenges of our RMG sector
are to maintain the market share with a satisfactory level and sustainable growth, compete with other market players and ensure quality, competitive price and timely delivery," the minister said.
Inaugurating the 5th Textech International Exhibition-2004 at Dhaka Sheraton hotel, he said the survival of the country's highest
foreign exchange earning sector and biggest employer would depend on how it faces the open competition.
Conference and Exhibition Management Services (Cems), an event-management firm, organised the three-day exhibition of textile machinery. A total of 55 companies from 30 countries in Asia, Americas and Europe are taking part in the show.
"Once the MFA (multi-fibre arrangement) based quota system is replaced by liberalised global trade in textiles and clothing, Bangladesh's position as RMG exporter may become uncertain to some extent," Altaf said.
The minister said poor infrastructure, high lead-time for exports and lack of sufficient cotton production stand in the way of achieving competitive edge for the RMG industry, which brings 76 percent of the country's total export income.
Bangladesh can meet 80 percent of domestic demand for knit fabrics and only 20 percent of woven fabrics from local production, he mentioned.
Barkat Ullah Bulu, advisor to commerce ministry, said after 2005 there would be a concentration of industries in countries where production costs are lower and Asia would experience the greatest changes in the field of production and distribution of products .
He urged the entrepreneurs to make tireless efforts towards increasing Bangladesh's share in the international apparel market by adopting new technologies and updating machinery.
The commerce minister advisor also asked the textile entrepreneurs to attract more foreign investment in the highly potential textile industry.
"This exhibition directly targets the entire garments and textile arena of Bangladesh in which the buyers will be able to directly interact with the exhibitors and find out what is best for them," said Meherun N Islam, managing director of Cems.
Mir Shahabuddin Mohammad, vice chairman of Export Promotion Bureau, Ruhul Amin, president of Bangladesh-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Shahid S Sarwar, director of Cems, also spoke.