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DHAKA APPAREL SUMMIT

Time to rebrand Bangladesh

BGMEA president says a positive image will help them hit the $50b export target

Refayet Ullah Mirdha
BANGLADESH needs to brighten its image abroad to help the garment sector reach the $50-billion export target by 2021 when the country will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its independence.
"We must rebrand Bangladesh, and garment business itself should be redefined as new things are happening every day on the global front," Atiqul Islam, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said yesterday.
It will be difficult to achieve the target with a traditional business model, he told The Daily Star on the eve of Dhaka Apparel Summit beginning today.
The summit is the first step towards building a positive image of the country, he said. "We will send a message that Bangladesh is not a land of disasters and natural calamities. Bangladesh is a land of opportunities and business.”
To this end, the BGMEA, the garment makers' platform, has set up a research organisation - the Centre of Excellence for Bangladesh Apparel Industry, the first of its kind in the country.
The organisation that comes into being today will conduct research on the apparel sector and advise both the government and the manufacturers on how to drive the sector in the right direction.
The garment makers' platform in association with the International Labour Organisation will run the institute, which will be based in the BGMEA headquarters until a new office is found, Islam said.
On workplace safety in the sector, he said it is one of the main challenges they are grappling with now.
"We have already invested millions of dollars for importing fire safety equipment. We don’t want disasters anymore." On the sidelines of the apparel summit, there will be a fire safety equipment fair that will mainly train people on how to
install such equipment in industrial units.
The suggestions that will come from the summit will be presented in a book, which Islam said will help the sector reach the $50-billion export target.
Besides the gas and power shortages, the government should address the issues such as developing the Dhaka-Chittagong highway, raising productivity, and facilitating product and market diversification, he said.
Productivity of Bangladeshi workers is lower than their competitors in other countries, Islam added.
Last year, Vietnam exported garments worth $17 billion with its 1.3 million workers, but Bangladesh earned $25 billion with 4.4 million workers.
"Markets and work orders are not our problems; we have scope to export more. We need a stable production cycle."
Bangladeshi garment exporters have diversified their products over the years. Now, 30 percent of the total garment exports are high-end products and manufacturers are making foray into newer segments such as suits, jackets and lingerie.
Foreign inspection agencies have found more than 98 percent garment factories of the country safe, which, according to Islam, has sent a positive message to the world.