PM for taking steps to make jute sector profitable

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina laid on Wednesday emphasis on branding the jute products as environment-friendly ones throughout the world to grab markets, reports UNB.

"We'll have to spread jute products throughout the world branding those as environment-friendly ones. If we can do that, we'll get a larger market (for jute products) and can earn more foreign currencies," she said.

The Prime Minister said this while speaking at the National Jute Day-2019 programme and inaugurating a two-day Multipurpose Jute Product Fair at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) in the city.

Sheikh Hasina urged all concerned to take necessary steps for making the jute sector profitable.

"Jute is such a produce, nothing of which is wasted. So, why'll it incur losses? I don't want to hear (the news of) losses. Attention is needed for making it profitable," she said.

The Prime Minister said the jute products will get incentives both as an agricultural produce and industrial product.

"We'll definitely make it (jute sector) profitable through diversifying the jute products. I believe it," she said urging all concerned to assessing the local demand of jute products alongside exporting these.

She said the Export Policy 2018-2021 has already been declared. "It'll have to concentrate on further increasing the export of jute goods," she added.

Hasina said many products, including 'Sonali Bags', are now being produced from jute which is called gold fibre.

The Sonali Bag has created huge prospects for the country's jute sector, the Prime Minister said.

She stressed the need for exploring markets through studying the demand of jute products across the world.

The Prime Minister said jute has a good prospect as people are now aware about the environment. "This environmental awareness has created a good prospect for our environment-friendly jute products."

Jute is an agricultural produce and it is also an industrial product at the same time, which is an environment-friendly one. "So, there's a huge prospect for the country's jute sector."

The Prime Minister said the government has been supporting research on jute and providing incentives to the sector for utilising everything of jute.

She said once the jute sector had been ignored by subsequent governments after 1975, but her government gave importance to the development of the sector again. "Returning to power, our government made efforts to further development of jute as cash crop through its multipurpose usages by boosting its production protecting it," she said.

Sheikh Hasina urged the private sector and entrepreneurs to come up with more investment in the jute sector to boost the production and export of the environment-friendly jute products.

She said the government will provide incentives to the private entrepreneurs in the jute sector like other sectors.

The Ministry of Textiles and Jute organised the function with Textiles and Jute Minister Golam Dastagir Gazi in the chair.

Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Textiles and Jute Mirza Azam spoke on the occasion as a special guest.