NN Online:
Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus on Wednesday called for immediate and strategic intervention to revive Bangladesh’s long-neglected leather industry, describing its decline as a major lost economic opportunity.
“We’ve done a great disservice to the leather sector by not giving it the value and attention it deserved,” he said while presiding over a high-level review meeting on Bangladesh’s readiness for its graduation from Least Developed Country (LDC) status.
Prof Yunus lamented that despite its potential, the leather industry failed to deliver expected economic gains due to prolonged negligence. He instructed that a dedicated meeting be convened soon to address the sector’s challenges and find concrete solutions.
He also directed that another meeting be held within the next two months to review the overall progress and necessary actions related to Bangladesh’s LDC graduation.
“These are not optional issues. If we want real progress, we must reform the policies and laws that are holding us back. This is about safeguarding our economic future,” Prof Yunus stressed.
The meeting, held at the Chief Adviser’s Office in Tejgaon from 11:00 am, also focused on extending support to other promising export sectors—similar to the incentives enjoyed by the readymade garment industry.
Proposals discussed included providing duty-free import facilities for raw materials and machinery in the man-made fibre industry, ensuring full operation of the Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) at the Savar Tannery Village, expediting the API Park project in Gazaria, Munshiganj, and updating the National Industrial Policy adopted in 2022.
