Economists and experts Sunday suggested greater cooperation among public and private-sector stakeholders through sharing more information for improving the corporate culture in the country.
They also called for reviewing the governance strategies in respect of enforcement of corporate sector laws to help address the prevailing 'agency problem'.
In corporate finance, the agency problem usually refers to the conflict of interest between a company's management and its stakeholders.
The suggestions came at the concluding session of a two-day International Political Science Association (IPSA) regional conference held in the city.
Policy Research Institute (PRI) and the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) jointly hosted the event at the PRI head office in the city. The chair of the IPSA research committee on 'Rethinking Political Development' Dr Zillur R. Khan moderated the discussion.
Giving a joint presentation on Corporate Law and Public-Private Cooperation in Political Development, international corporate lawyer Masud Khan said corporate law has helped raise public awareness regarding corporate governance and best practices in governance not only in public entities, but also in private and non-profit ones.
Mentioning the country's worst ever industrial disaster, Rana Plaza building collapse, he said the security and workplace safety initiatives involve all the constituents of the RMG (readymade garment) sector including ILO (International Labour Organisation), Government of Bangladesh (GOB), BGMEA (Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association) workers' representatives, factory inspectors, global buyers, Alliance (group of north American buyers) and Accord (group of European buyers).
"There is significant overlapping of the Alliance and Accord initiatives with the uniform compliance code, shared responsibility, independent inspections and low interest debt to help fund the factory upgrades due to the absence of a government body to facilitate the process. That's why the initiatives do not have any material track record even 9 months after the Rana Plaza tragedy," he said.
Speaking as chief guest, Dr Mashiur Rahman, economic adviser to the Prime Minister, termed the issue of agency problem a tricky thing, saying that it becomes very difficult to completely remove such problem.
"But policy has to be formed or designed in a way that it ensures the quality of disclosure, auditing and management to get rid of such conflict," he said adding that it cannot be removed by empowering inspection department and auditing office with judicial and police powers.
Dr. Sadiq Ahmed, Vice Chairman of PRI, emphasised the importance of introducing insurance coverage of accidents at the country's corporate arena, including the country's highest foreign currency earning garment sector.
"The government can set a regulation regarding the issue so that the workers get insurance facility if any unexpected incident takes place," he said.
Speaking on the occasion, Executive Director of the PRI Ahsan H. Mansur said although an initiative was taken to create a Tk 3.0 billion fund for supporting the problematic garment factories, no progress has been visible in this respect.
He also raised a question as to why the international buyers are not putting pressure on the garment manufacturers in respect complying with factory safety and other requirements.
Ambassador M. Humayun Kabir, vice president of the BEI, among others, spoke at the session.
