US Ambassador Dan W Mozena, in his goodbye press address, had all praise for made-in-Bangladesh apparel, leather and pharmaceutical products which, he said, would dominate the world market.
Bangladesh can become number-one premium and best brand on the world clothing market if it overcomes some challenges, he said about the country's major export industry, apart from prospects in other fields, including farm-sector advances.
The challenges he sees are fire safety, structural soundness of factories and workers' rights. Remedying these will transform the apparel industry into an international- standard one.
The outgoing US Ambassador to Bangladesh expressed the views while addressing a pre-departure press conference Saturday at the American Club, asserting that Bangladesh would be able to seize the opportunity if there be commitment and will.
Mozena, who has been serving in Bangladesh since May 2011 as the US Ambassador, is set to leave today (Sunday) as his successor, Marcia Stephens Bloom Bernicat, will soon arrive here to take over as the new US envoy.
Talking about immediate challenges ahead of Bangladesh, the outgoing ambassador said the most immediate is the challenge of manifesting the commitment and will to transform the apparel industry into an international-standard one.
"That's a big challenge because it's a big deal, but if that commitment and will are there, I believe, it'll be the largest apparel-export industry."
Appreciating Bangladesh's progress in various areas, Mozena said the Asian tiger may be a home for outsourcing manufacturing products like leather and leather goods, generic pharmaceuticals and IT products, especially software, if the country takes some special care to remove infrastructural bottlenecks.
"During my three-year tenure, I observed tremendous progress in different vital sectors. I found four legs of the tiger -- RMG sector's transformation, environment-friendly leather industry in Savar, generic pharmaceutical products, and information technology -- which can bring about significant changes in the country's economic growth," said the ambassador.
"Bangladesh, a beautiful country having full of resources, is no more a poor country," said Mozena in a remark that appears to be diametrically different from that of a former foreign minister of his country, Henry Kissinger, made in the post-independence period of Bangladesh.
He adds: this country has huge potential to grow up as a developed nation.
"I do not know any poor Bangladesh. "I only know a rich Bangladesh. This is a land of magic," he further said.
Asked about his comment on the country's political situation, the ambassador said,
"I don't know what to say about that. America backs no force in the political race. That's for you, the people of Bangladesh, to sort out."
Regarding the January 5 polls in Bangladesh, the envoy said, "The US view on the elections remained same as it was earlier."
Asked whether it is true he is not going to have a farewell meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Mozena quipped: "I've no idea."
Dwelling on the industrial sector, the ambassador said the country will have an extreme opportunity to export huge quantities of high-grade hides, shoes and leather products to the USA and other developed countries as a good number of new tanneries are coming up in Savar with effluent-treatment plant.
He mentioned that 150 tanneries had been established which would be completed by the end of next year and produce shoes and leather products of international standards.
The leather industry will open up market in the USA and other parts of the world for shoes, belt, wallet and other leather products.
Bangladeshi generic pharmaceuticals will also begin to trickle into the American market within a few years.
"I believe, too, that this trickle will become a flood as Bangladesh ramps up to become a major supplier to the American pharmaceutical market. In my old age, I will be nursing my health with made-in-Bangladesh drugs," said the outgoing US diplomat in singing the praises of things deemed nice.
Bangladesh, Mozena said, can also provide quality software at about 60 per cent of the cost elsewhere.
But he listed a set of 'dos' for getting to the goal. He said the country has to remove the infrastructure bottlenecks, improve the rule of law, reduce the red tape, rein in corruption, improve governance issue, and ensure power and energy.
The envoy, who has extensively travelled through Bangladesh during his assignment in Dhaka, also laid emphasis on real and quality education, recruiting the best young people as teachers with adequate training facilities for them with smart salaries and good supervision.
When asked about his best achievement during the tenure, the outgoing ambassador said it is the US-Bangladesh partnership -- which he said is now broader, deeper, and stronger than ever before.
"As I look back over the past three years since my arrival, I am pleased with the great progress America and Bangladesh have made in fostering our partnership," said Mozena.
"If I look forward, I am confident that the partnership will continue to broaden, deepen, and strengthen to the benefit of the people of both the countries."
The US ambassador said the partnership has helped put Bangladesh on a trajectory to achieve its Millennium Development Goals by already slashing maternal mortality by over 60 per cent and child-under-five mortality by nearly two-thirds.
He said the partnership had also helped enable Bangladeshis to have the family size they want, which has reduced the fertility rate from 6.3 live births per woman in 1971 to around 2.2 today. Further reductions could take the rate to replacement level of 2.1 live births next year.
About success in food production, he said Bangladesh is now in fact an overflowing basket of agricultural bounty as the US partnership with Bangladesh has engaged over 2.2 million farmers in using new methods of fertilization to reduce fertiliser consumption while increasing yields.
"We all know that Bangladesh is exporting 50,000 tonnes of rice to Sri Lanka this year...what an achievement for a country once famously described as basket case," he said in a flashback on the Kissinger salvo.
Dan W Mozena noted that this partnership between two countries was institutionalised with the establishment of the annual Partnership Dialogue during Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's 2012 visit to Bangladesh.
Responding to a question, he said his country backs no political force in Bangladesh's political race as it focuses on deepening partnership between the two countries.
mzrbd@yahoo.com
Mozena showers praise on BD abilities
FE Report | Published: December 21, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
Dan W Mozena
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