Timely reforms crucial for business

Staff Reporter :
Timely reforms and good governance are essential for creating a business friendly environment with a view to preparing the country for post-LDC graduation scenario.

Increasing investment in human resource by the Readymade Garments sector is equally important to meet the existing gap of managerial skills in the RMG industry.

Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister M. Tofazzel Hossain Miah made these remarks while speaking as the chief guest of the ‘Validation Workshop on Final Draft Study Reports on Market Access, Comparative Advantage and Export Diversification and Upscaling the RMG Sector’ held in the NEC Conference Room on Wednesday.

Support to Sustainable Graduation Project (SSGP) of the Economic Relations Division (ERD) organized the event chaired by ERD Secretary Md. Shahriar Kader Siddiky.

Senior Secretary of the Commerce Ministry Tapan Kanti Ghosh and the President of Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) Mohammad Ali Khokon attended the event as special guests.

It is notable that the government is attaching highest priority to ensure a smooth and sustainable LDC graduation of the country. As such, several in-depth sectoral studies are being carried out by the SSGP under the guidance of the National Committee on LDC Graduation to assess the impact of LDC graduation and to formulate the relevant strategies accordingly.

As part of that process, a study is being carried out on ‘Market Access, Comparative Advantage and Export Diversification’ with support from Policy Research Institute while another study is being carried out on ‘Upscaling the RMG Sector’ with support from Research and Policy Integration for Development (RAPID).

Against this backdrop, the workshop was organized to review the major findings of those studies and to disseminate them among the relevant stakeholders.

Noting that there are huge scopes for diversification within RMG, the Principal Secretary, in his speech, asked the RMG owners to focus more on diversification of their products. At the same time, he also emphasized exploring new markets for local apparels.

Tapan Kanti Ghosh said that Bangladesh has to explore alternative to cash incentives to prepare the country’s exporters for post-LDC graduation scenario.

Mohammad Ali Khokon said that Bangladeshi apparel manufacturers can move towards multi-fibre arena through ensuring duty-free access of all fibers.

Md. Shahriar Kader Siddiky, in his speech, observed that the private sector must work in close collaboration with the academic institutions to meet the gap of managerial skills in the RMG sector.

Additional Secretary of ERD and the Project Director of SSGP Mr. Farid Aziz delivered the welcome remarks of the event.

Chairman of RAPID and the Research Director of PRI Dr Mohammad Abdur Razzaque delivered two keynote presentations highlighting the major findings of the studies.