PARIS, June 28 (BSS): State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam Friday urged the global apparel industry stakeholders to remain engaged and fulfill all the remaining commitments made since last year in sustaining the Bangladesh Readymade Garment (RMG) sector.
The state minister, who is in Paris to attend the second Global Forum on Responsible Business Conduct, made the call while presenting his keynote speech in the dedicated session titled "Rana Plaza Aftermath: Responsible Supply Chains in the Textiles and Garment Sector" here.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) organised the session under the umbrella of the forum held on June 26-27, 2014.
He apprised of a host of actions and measures taken by the government and RMG industry stakeholders in Bangladesh over the past one and a half years.
Mr Shahriar underlined that the brands and the retailers within the Global Supply Chain need to address issues relating to fair pricing and other support measures in sustaining the industry in Bangladesh.
He said the growth of the RMG industry in Bangladesh over the past three decades has not only been reflected in terms of emergence of many entrepreneurs but also in respect of contribution to attainment of MDGs, balanced contribution to poverty eradication, equitable and inclusive economic growth, employment and overall social transformation in Bangladesh.
The state minister led Bangladesh delegation to the forum which included representatives from the ministry of labour and employment, BGMEA and representatives of workers.
The Deputy Director General of ILO Mr Honbu, Dutch Development Minister Ploumen and the French finance minister attending the two and half hour session attested the details and changes in Bangladesh and overwhelmingly qualified the engagement of the government and industry manifesting a most desired partnership, towards securing equity, dignity, justice and responsibility.
During discussions, the stakeholders from workers, media, and academia also attested the same and emphasised that the global brands need to early fulfill all the remaining pledges, specially related to compensation to the affected RMG workers in Bangladesh.
Earlier in the day, the state minister also spoke at another ministerial roundtable where he shared Bangladesh's perspective on emerging construct of global business responsibility.
OECD secretary general, the EU trade commissioner and many others termed Bangladesh's comprehensive engagement in addressing the challenges in RMG sector as commendable and added that OECD is considering to take up the experience in Bangladesh as a model for replicating elsewhere in the world within global supply chain in manufacturing.
In Paris, the state minister also had a meeting with EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht where the commissioner expressed EU's satisfaction with regard to implementation of various provisions and commitments contained in the Bangladesh Sustainability Compact that was adopted on July 8, 2013 in Geneva between Bangladesh, EU, USA and ILO.
Deputy Director General of OECD, William Denver, called on the state minister, on the sidelines of the meeting. During the discussion, they discussed about issues and operational challenges faced by LDCs in attaining inclusive growth, green development, fulfillment of ODA targets by OECD countries, among others.
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