Overcoming their over security concerns, foreign buyers of the readymade garments have started coming to Bangladesh though some are still finding the third place comfortable for their negotiations. “Many buyers are coming to Bangladesh, but few others still prefer meeting abroad,” Vice President (Finance) of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Mohammed Nasir told UNB on Monday describing the current scenario. He said there has been ‘exaggeration’ over travel advisories by various foreign countries in the wake of the recent murders of two foreign nationals — one Japanese man and another Italian citizen — in Rangpur and Dhaka. “Even many termed it red alert without understanding it properly,” the BGMEA leader said adding that created panic to some extent. Nasir, the Managing Director of Evergreen Sweaters Ltd, said Ambassador of the Netherlands to Bangladesh Leoni Margaretha Cuelenaere came to their office on Sunday without any security personnel and discussed RMG issues with the BGMEA leaders. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Well Group Syed Nurul Islam also gave the similar picture. “There’re some issues after the killing of the two foreigners. A number of buyers are asking us to meet them in China or Hong Kong for their convenient,” Islam told UNB. The Well Group has clients like JCPenney, C&A, Kmart, Wal Mart, Carrefour, Aeropostale, George target, Sears, Family Dollar, Dollar General and Tesco. Former BGMEA first vice president Nasir Uddin Chowdhury said nobody should create unnecessary panic considering the country’s interest, and things are now fine with the foreign buyers. Nobody can avert accident but fearing accident no one can stop giving up driving, he added. Chowdhury, also Managing Director of the Eastern Apparels Limited, referred to a recent incident in Turkey where some 90 people were killed but people have not stopped visiting Turkey. Meanwhile, top executives of two British companies — Director (Sales and Marketing) of Rolls Royce Fintan Knight and Standard Chartered Bank Executive Director Mike Rees — are now in the city to discuss business issues with Biman Bangladesh Airlines, sources said. The BGMEA sources said the scheduled monthly meeting of the buyers’ forum was not held this time but will take place regularly in the coming months. A representative from the BGMEA also attends the buyers’ forum meeting. International retailers’ meeting was scheduled to take place in the first week of this month with garment makers, but it was postponed after the killing of two foreign nationals in Bangladesh in a span of one week. Representatives from nearly 65-70 international retailers, which account for about 90 percent of the country’s $25 billion receipts from garment exports a year, participate in the meeting.
