Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, President of BGMEA Siddiqur Rahman and Manager - Energy and Water Advisory Services of IFC Alexios Pantelias, seen, among others, at the launching of the second phase of IFC's multi-stakeholder partnership to drive sustainability in the local textile sector at a city hotel recently.
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, launched the second phase of its multi-stakeholder partnership to drive sustainability in Bangladesh's textile sector at a city hotel recently.
According to a press release issued on Wednesday, the event also marked the completion of the first phase of the Bangladesh Partnership for Cleaner Textile (PaCT) programme.
IFC with support from the government of The Netherlands had launched the PaCT programme in 2013.
PaCT, the release said, worked in partnership with the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), NGO Solidaridad, 13 global apparel brands, and two technology suppliers.
The programme, towards its closing stage, was advising more than 200 factories in the country to adopt state-of-the-art efficiency and cleaner production practices to reduce water, energy, and chemical use in the textile industry.
In the first phase, the PaCT programme helped save 21.6 billion litres of water (equivalent to average annual water use for 840,000 people in Bangladesh) and 2.5 million megawatt hours of energy per year (equivalent to 5.4 per cent of total national grid output of Bangladesh in 2015-16) in partner factories.
The second phase of the programme, supported by the government of Australia, will significantly increase the scope of the programme by working with the entire textile value chain from spinning to the final finished product.
The IFC also signed separate MoUs in this regard with the BGMEA and the VF Corporation during the event.
"If the textile industry aspires to reach USD 50 billion export by 2021, the industry needs to embrace adoption of resource-saving practices and new technologies. The government is promoting green uptake through policy incentives, financial incentives and strict regulation on pollution reduction," said Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, who was the chief guest at the event.
The special guest of the event was Md. Siddiqur Rahman, President of the BGMEA. He said, "Our partnership with the IFC-PaCT helped promote cleaner production in textile sector. Cleaner production practices have made our factories more efficient. We look forward to the successful implementation of the second phase of the programme."
Bangladesh has 4.5 million citizens employed in the industry, 65-80 per cent of them being women. Apparel exports account for about 80 per cent of the country's total export.
IFC addresses tough challenges in the garment sector - a sector that contributes significantly to the economy of the country, which is the world's second-largest exporter of ready-made garments.
Alexios Pantelias, Manager - Energy and Water Advisory Services of IFC, said, "PaCT is one of our flagship advisory programmes and globally it is the largest of its kind in the textile sector. We plan to work with more than 250 factories during the second phase of the programme."
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