Managing Director of Apex Footwear Syed Nasim Manzur has urged stakeholders to brand Bangladesh in the international market as a lucrative sourcing destination for leather products. He made the call at the 11th annual general meeting of Leathergoods & Footwear Manufacturers & Exporters Association of Bangladesh (LFMEAB), held Saturday in the city. In his speech, Mr Manzur, also outgoing president of the trade group, spoke on the challenges that member factories had to face in the previous year such as tannery relocation and making industry more green, drastic fall in EURO value, supply chain disruption owing to domestic political conflict for long time. He also expressed concern over erosion of advantages for Bangladesh due to extension of similar facilities for other countries too such as Pakistan getting the GSP facility. The government needs to work to avail new offers for Bangladesh in order to retain competitiveness, he said. Meanwhile, the association held its biennial election to its executive committee, where Md. Saiful Islam was elected president, the trade group said in a statement. Other members of the new executive committee for 2015-17 include senior vice president Abdul Momen Bhuiyan, vice president, (Finance) Nasir Khan, vice-president (HR & Admin) Mohammed Nazmul Hassan, director M. Anisur Razzaque, director, Ziaur Rahman, and director Hedayetullah Ron. Mr Manzur presided over the AGM and also delivered the inaugural speech of the AGM and presented the Annual Report 2014 and highlighted challenges and prospects of leather and footwear sector. The AGM discussed on how to implement the Gender Policy in the member factories, aiming to strengthen the social compliance initiatives and mapped out the future focus on targeted marketing, product diversification to boost export in international market, social compliance, green initiatives and skills training to sustain the growth of this value-added and job-rich sector. Later on, the annual audit report of the year 2014 was approved unanimously at the AGM, and elected executive committee for 2015-17 of the Association announced.
