BANGLADESH NEWS
The US ambassador in Dhaka, Dan Mozena, says that lack of collective labour voice in Bangladesh's garments industry has been a major cause for concern among American customers and that manufacturers must do more to address the issue.
Mozena met a number of top representatives of the industry on Thursday evening over an Iftar, hosted by a leading exporter, when he faced questions about alleged double standards when it comes, for instance, to dealing with countries such as Colombia.
"The pre-Iftar discussion centred on the recent comments of the Ambassador about the lack of freedom of association, the murder of Aminul Islam, and the concern of the American retailers on the compromised labour standards in Bangladesh," said one of those who met Mozena at the Iftar hosted by Rubana and Annisul Huq.
While the hosts refused to comment, two of the participants shared the contents of conversation in detail with bdnews24.com.
Annisul is a former BGMEA president and Rubana runs the nine-factory 9000-employee Mohammadi Group as Managing Director. Their guests included current BGMEA President Shafiul Islam Mahiuddin, FBCCI President Abul Kalam Azad, Members of Parliament Israfil Alam and Md Shahriar Alam, BTMEA President Jahangir Al-Amin and a number of trade leaders and entrepreneurs. Senior US embassy official Pushpinder Singh was also there.
"He also stressed that Bangladesh, being the second largest exporter to the United States, needs to be careful and more attentive to the requirements of the customers," a second participant said.
"As an example, he cited Better Work Program, an initiative that Bangladeshi manufacturers could participate in, through ILO and pledge their commitment to compliance and gradual improvement of labour standards in this country," the participant said.
Trade leaders including DCCI's Asif Ibrahim, Employers Federation President Fazlul Haque, ex BGMEA President Anisur Rahman Sinha, and others, such as Mahmud Ahsan Babu and Arshad Dipu, agreed with the proposal and said that BGMEA, BKMEA along with Bangladesh Employers Federation had already taken steps towards phase-wise implementation of the programme.
"The point of USA and EU signing Free Trade Agreements with Colombia, in spite of their serious labour issues, including 2880 labour leaders being killed since 1986 (11 in 2012, 30 in 2009 and 46 in 2005) was brought up by an entrepreneur," said the second participant divulging details of the discussion.
"Mozena quickly responded by referring to the excellent progress that Colombia has made in the recent past and mentioned that Colombia was one of the fastest growing economy in South America. He also mentioned the importance of TICFA for Bangladesh."
But his conclusions were encouraging for Bangladesh, the two participants said.
"Bangladesh is Big! Bangladesh should become and has the potential of becoming the number one exporter to the United States," Mozena was quoted to have told the exporters.
Mozena met a number of top representatives of the industry on Thursday evening over an Iftar, hosted by a leading exporter, when he faced questions about alleged double standards when it comes, for instance, to dealing with countries such as Colombia.
"The pre-Iftar discussion centred on the recent comments of the Ambassador about the lack of freedom of association, the murder of Aminul Islam, and the concern of the American retailers on the compromised labour standards in Bangladesh," said one of those who met Mozena at the Iftar hosted by Rubana and Annisul Huq.
While the hosts refused to comment, two of the participants shared the contents of conversation in detail with bdnews24.com.
Annisul is a former BGMEA president and Rubana runs the nine-factory 9000-employee Mohammadi Group as Managing Director. Their guests included current BGMEA President Shafiul Islam Mahiuddin, FBCCI President Abul Kalam Azad, Members of Parliament Israfil Alam and Md Shahriar Alam, BTMEA President Jahangir Al-Amin and a number of trade leaders and entrepreneurs. Senior US embassy official Pushpinder Singh was also there.
"He also stressed that Bangladesh, being the second largest exporter to the United States, needs to be careful and more attentive to the requirements of the customers," a second participant said.
"As an example, he cited Better Work Program, an initiative that Bangladeshi manufacturers could participate in, through ILO and pledge their commitment to compliance and gradual improvement of labour standards in this country," the participant said.
Trade leaders including DCCI's Asif Ibrahim, Employers Federation President Fazlul Haque, ex BGMEA President Anisur Rahman Sinha, and others, such as Mahmud Ahsan Babu and Arshad Dipu, agreed with the proposal and said that BGMEA, BKMEA along with Bangladesh Employers Federation had already taken steps towards phase-wise implementation of the programme.
"The point of USA and EU signing Free Trade Agreements with Colombia, in spite of their serious labour issues, including 2880 labour leaders being killed since 1986 (11 in 2012, 30 in 2009 and 46 in 2005) was brought up by an entrepreneur," said the second participant divulging details of the discussion.
"Mozena quickly responded by referring to the excellent progress that Colombia has made in the recent past and mentioned that Colombia was one of the fastest growing economy in South America. He also mentioned the importance of TICFA for Bangladesh."
But his conclusions were encouraging for Bangladesh, the two participants said.
"Bangladesh is Big! Bangladesh should become and has the potential of becoming the number one exporter to the United States," Mozena was quoted to have told the exporters.
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