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Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurates BATEXPO2000 |
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November 22, 2000
Dhaka--(UNB) – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday advised apparel manufacturers to build the textile industry in a planned way to face a tough global competition after multi—fibre arrangement (MFA) goes in 2005. Inaugurating an annual apparel extravaganza she also called upon the garment owners to care for the welfare of workers, mostly women, to raise their productivity. “Quality of labour will improve if workers remain well off and ultimately you, the owners, will be benefited,” the Prime Minister said at the inaugural function of BATEXPO-2000 at Hotel Sonargaon. She regretted that her repeated appeals for building dormitories for female workers of garment industry could not yield any response from BGMEA or garment owners. A total of 79 stalls have been opened in the three-day Bangladesh Apparel and Textile Exposition, BATEXPO 2000. This is the 11th fair organasied every year by Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) since 1989. Finance Minister Shah AMS Kibria and BGMEA president Anisur Rahman Sinha also spoke on prospects and problems of the largest export-earning sector of the country’s economy. The Prime Minister hoped the Batexpo 2000 would contribute to accelerating industrialisation through attracting capital investment in local textile industry and expanding exports. “We need more foreign capital due to scarcity of local capital,” she said, mentioning government’s lucrative incentives for both local and foreign investment. The Prime Minister said her government had adopted and implemented liberal industrial and trade policy in light of free-market economy providing incentives for attracting investment. Mentioning the government’s efforts for the welfare of the garment workers she said the government is pursuing the establishment of a Garment Village outside Dhaka and more land would be allocated for the project. “The Garment Village is being built in such a manner that the lives of workers will not be endangered due to electric short circuit and other accidents.” The government has decided to provide BRAC with Tk 10 crore at 1 per cent service charge to construct housing for female garment workers and would welcome such responses from others. Hasina appreciated welfare measures taken up by the BGMEA since European and American buyers are increasingly caring for human welfare issues like child labour, labour standards and ecology. She recalled the success of Bangladesh in freeing garment industry from child labour and providing the children with education for a better future. She praised the apex textile- sector body for its healthcare project for labourers. |