The Bangladesh Bank (BB) will formulate a separate risk management guideline for the textile sector aiming to get most of the green outputs necessary to be competitive in the global market.
"BB has already given an environment risk management guideline for financial sector. We would give a separate sector-specific risk management guideline for textile sector," BB Governor Atiur Rahman said on Wednesday at a programme.
He was addressing as a special guest the inaugural session of the three-day 'UNGC Asia/Oceania Local Network Regional Meeting 2014' organised by CSR Centre and Global Compact Network Bangladesh at a city hotel.
International Affairs Adviser to the Prime Minister Gowher Rizvi was present as the chief guest at the programme while Danish ambassador to Dhaka Hanne Fugl Eskjaer, UN Global Compact local networks head Walid Nagi spoke on the occasion. Global Compact Network Bangladesh representative Farooq Sobhan chaired the inaugural session.
The BB governor said textile sector which contributes 80 per cent to the country's export and 30 per cent to the GDP is becoming the lifeline of the country and most of banks have been investing in this sector.
"Unless we can make the sector socially responsible, engage them in green practices in their outputs and make all the production processes green which avoid water and energy wastages, ultimately business in that sector will not be sustainable," said Mr Rahman.
He said initially the corporate sector might think they are investing too much, but ultimately it will be a long-lasting competitive edge.
The governor said at the end of the day Bangladesh will be most competitive in readymade garment (RMG) sector than anybody else not as the least cost destination of any kind of product.
"We must tell the world we are the most competitive using all our efforts in terms of wage, ethical business and being responsive to the labourers," said the noted economist.
Bangladesh which is now second in RMG export in the world will be number one some day through green business practices, the governor added.
In his address of the chief guest, Gawher Rizvi, stressed the need for transparency and accountability of the corporate sector in spending CSR fund as ultimately the tax is cut in the form of CSR expenditure.
"There is a very important tax implication of the CSR expenditure. It is important the money should be spent in a transparent way," he said.
Mr Rizvi said there is massive demand to increase tax resources. Sooner or later CSR expenditure will come under scanner.
He also stressed the need for investing more on skill development of the workers to make them productive and professional development of the managers which is most neglected in the country.
Mr Walid Nagi said business must move beyond licence to operate to a higher aspiration of licence to lead.
"To do so, business cannot act alone in self interest, it must adopt a broader, societal view while executing on the fundamentals in the pursuit of profit," he added.
According to UN Global Compact's flagship Global Corporate Sustainability Report 2013, some 52 per cent of corporate boards address corporate sustainability and 65 per cent of CEOs have developed policies and strategies for a more sustainable operation.
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