Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has decided in principle to quit the board of the Alliance for Bangladesh Workers Safety. The decision was taken at a board meeting of the BGMEA held yesterday at its headquarters in the city yesterday. “The BGMEA will not stay in the steering committee of the Alliance. If the BGMEA stays at the committee, it cannot talk against the Alliance as per the agreement,” a BGMEA director told the Dhaka Tribune asking not be named. “As the BGMEA represents the RMG sector, it will talk about it and place any demands of the sector, but if it is not possible, why we should stay with the committee,” he said. The BGMEA board gave consent to the decision and its president Atiqul Islam would resign from the steering committee in a day or two, another meeting source told Dhaka Tribune. “We have discussed the issue in the board meeting on our stance to exit from the steering committee of the Alliance,” BGMEA vice president (finance) Reaz Bin Mahmood said. Reaz said: “We will discuss with the government about what to do about making progress in the remediation works. Besides, a BGMEA director said they had broadly discussed the issue of financing by the IFC to implement corrective action plans outlined by the Accord and Alliance to upgrade safety standards. The Alliance has brokered a first-of-its-kind agreement with the International Finance Corporation to help suppliers finance factory repairs through credit facility. As per the agreement, the IFC will provide $10m each to five Bangladeshi banks totaling $50m for affordable loans to factory owners making necessary safety repairs. Earlier, in June the Alliance expressed its concern over the recent comments made by Finance Minister AMA Muhith and BGMEA regarding the activities of the north American RMG retailers’ group. The retailers group also urged the government to clarify its position on both the work being performed and significant financial contributions being made toward improving factory in RMG industry. On June 15, Muhith termed the recent activities of the Accord and Alliance as “nooses” in the growth of the country’s RMG sector. Terming the directives of the Accord and Alliance “unfortunate” the minister alleged that this kind of activities were hindering the activities of the garment factories. Following the deadliest factory collapse in 2013, the Alliance committed to invest $50m over a five-year period to upgrade member factories to meet international fire and safety standards.
