Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed on Tuesday said the government will set up 17 special economic zones aimed at providing investment opportunities and facilities to the foreign investors who intend to expand their investment in Bangladesh. The commerce minister made the remarks while addressing the launching event of the Center of Excellence for Bangladesh Apparel Industry (CEBAI) at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in the city. Saying that Bangladesh’s apparel industry is growing and will keep growing in a faster pace in the days to come, the minister said Bangladesh would touch the mark of $50-billion export mark, with significant contribution from RMG sector while it would mark the 50th anniversary of its independence. He mentioned that the ILO and EU representatives expressed their satisfaction over the practical progress in implementation of Bangladesh Sustainability Compact, an agreement which obligates the Bangladesh government to take real steps towards ensuring factory safety and protecting workers’ rights. “Starting from scratch soon after the independence, Bangladesh is now considered as one of the world’s emerging economies and this has been possible for the hard work, innovative initiatives and capacity of the business community,” he added. Citing that Bangladesh has been maintaining a steady GDP growth of over 6 percent for the last six years, Tofail said “Now we are ahead of many other countries in terms of social and human developments.” He said Bangladesh will turn into a middle-income country within the year 2021 as all the economic indicators are moving towards a positive direction. He also expressed hope that the CEBAI would play a significant role in upholding the export-oriented sector particularly in the of RMG sector. BGMEA President Atiqul Islam presided over the launching ceremony where State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam MP, ILO Assistant Director General and Regional Director for the Asia Pacific Ms. Tomoko Nishimoto, BGMEA Vice President (Finance) Reaz Bin Mahmood, SIDA Deputy Head Mission of Karin Mcdonald, H&M Country Manager Roger Hubert, ILO Country Director Srinivas Reddy were also present. Dr. Syed Ferhat Anwar, Professor, IBA, University of Dhaka, presented the keynote paper on CEBAI at the ceremony. “The CEBAI has been established in such a moment when we also need to work with our target of achieving $50 billion export on celebration of 50th anniversary of independence along with its core vision of –not stretching out the glory rather do work together to retain a sustainable growth and competitive edge of this industry” BGMEA President Atiqul Islam said while addressing the function. The speakers at the function mentioned that the CEBAI demonstrates that with an industry-based training focus, an initiative can effectively increase employability and drive higher incomes for the working poor. The Center of Excellence will also help guide the sector towards higher productivity, value addition and the use of new technology while facilitating trade and investment, they observed.
Source: https://www.daily-sun.com/print/back-page/2015/04/22/499338
