UNB, Dhaka :
Boasting of the country’s fast-changing status, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed on Saturday said now Bangladesh is not in a weak position in any way to accept all the illogical conditions imposed by the West, saying it now talks and sits with its head high.
“Now we’re not like in the past. We now talk and sit with our head high. So, we’ll move ahead in our own way,” he told a press conference in the city.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and
Exporters Association (BGMEA) arranged the press conference at its conference room to share the outcome of the just-concluded Dhaka Apparel Summit.
BGMEA President M Atiqul Islam, second vice president SM Mannan (Kochi), vice president M Shahidullah Azim, vice president (Finance) Reaz-Bin-Mahmood (Sumon) and directors were present.
Apparently criticising the United States for its tendency of imposing conditions on Bangladesh, he said Bangladesh has ratified all the eight ILO conventions while the USA ratified only two of those.
Providing data on the practice of unionism in the USA, Tofail said only 36 percent mills and factories there under the public sector have unions while it is only 7 percent in the private sector. The Commerce Minister said, there was a pressure on Bangladesh to introduce trade union in the Export Processing Zones (EPZs).
Voicing satisfaction over the Summit, he said Bangladesh could tell the international community that Rana Plaza disaster is not the whole story of the sector. “They in person visited the factories and saw the real scenario.”
He said, the international community highly praised the progress of the sector and there had been no major accident in the RMG sector over the last 20 months. “We’ve many things to feel proud of. They’ve understood that.”
Tofail said, all the recommendations came from the Summit will gradually be implemented to achieve the US$ 50 billion export mark by 2021. “We don’t have any doubt over the target achievement.”
Boasting of the country’s fast-changing status, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed on Saturday said now Bangladesh is not in a weak position in any way to accept all the illogical conditions imposed by the West, saying it now talks and sits with its head high.
“Now we’re not like in the past. We now talk and sit with our head high. So, we’ll move ahead in our own way,” he told a press conference in the city.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and
Exporters Association (BGMEA) arranged the press conference at its conference room to share the outcome of the just-concluded Dhaka Apparel Summit.
BGMEA President M Atiqul Islam, second vice president SM Mannan (Kochi), vice president M Shahidullah Azim, vice president (Finance) Reaz-Bin-Mahmood (Sumon) and directors were present.
Apparently criticising the United States for its tendency of imposing conditions on Bangladesh, he said Bangladesh has ratified all the eight ILO conventions while the USA ratified only two of those.
Providing data on the practice of unionism in the USA, Tofail said only 36 percent mills and factories there under the public sector have unions while it is only 7 percent in the private sector. The Commerce Minister said, there was a pressure on Bangladesh to introduce trade union in the Export Processing Zones (EPZs).
Voicing satisfaction over the Summit, he said Bangladesh could tell the international community that Rana Plaza disaster is not the whole story of the sector. “They in person visited the factories and saw the real scenario.”
He said, the international community highly praised the progress of the sector and there had been no major accident in the RMG sector over the last 20 months. “We’ve many things to feel proud of. They’ve understood that.”
Tofail said, all the recommendations came from the Summit will gradually be implemented to achieve the US$ 50 billion export mark by 2021. “We don’t have any doubt over the target achievement.”
