Dutch foreign trade and development cooperation minister Lilianne Ploumen has identified three challenges for readymade garment sector of Bangladesh that are needed to be addressed. The challenges are fair prices of products, unauthorised sub-contracting and rights of workers. After a meeting on ‘Development of the Bangladesh RMG sector in the context of responsible global supply chains through multi stakeholder partnership’ with the Bangladesh government, factory owners, workers representatives from buyers and brand on Sunday the Dutch minister said the Bangladesh government and factory owners are not only responsible to ensure safe working condition. ‘Buyer brands and consumers also have responsibility and they will have to come up with true prices of the products,’ Ploumen said at a joint press conference at Hotel Westin in the city. At the press conference commerce minister Tofail Ahmed said Bangladesh had addressed all the conditions that had been raised by the international community following the Rana Plaza building collapse but the retailer groups had been creating some obstacles in the factories in the name of social audit. He alleged that the Accord, the platform of European brands and retailers, was doing some activities beyond its jurisdiction. ‘The Accord and Alliance (the platform of the North American buyers and brands) are supposed to conduct inspections in the factories, not to interfere in other affairs,’ Tofail said. The commerce minister, who has been vocal against Accord’s activities for the last couple of months, urged the retailer groups to come up under the rules and regulations of the Bangladesh government to operate their inspection-related activities in the country. Tofail said they discussed in the meeting about the true prices of products. The factory owners invested a lot to make their units compliant following the Rana Plaza building collapse but the buyers and the retailers are yet to increase the prices, the commerce minister said. ‘We have done all the requirements of the international community to ensure safe working condition and worker rights through finalising the implementation rules of labour act,’ Tofail said. The minister assured that the implementation rules of the labour act would be effective from July. Dutch minister Ploumen urged the government to allow workers to get actively engaged in trade unions. She also raised as a matter of priority the issue of unauthorised subcontracting and the need for safety assessment in the non export-oriented factories. According to a joint statement of the meeting, both the ministers addressed the issue of fair pricing and access to reasonably-cost finance.
