The country’s apparel exporters on Tuesday urged the global buyers to show responsible business behaviour in line with ethical business practice to ensure a sustainable readymade garment sector in Bangladesh. At a press briefing on the progress achieved in improving workplace safety and labour rights in light with the Sustainability Compact, the RMG sector leaders said following the Rana Plaza tragedy in April 2013, the garment sector achieved a significant progress in terms of workplace safety and workers’ rights. The RMG sector has made significant improvement and it has been proved that Bangladesh is the safest place in the world for producing garment products, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association president Siddiqur Rahman said. The trade body has provided thousands of workers with fire safety training and taken effective initiative to stop unauthorised subcontracting, he mentioned. Siddiqur said most of the requirements of the Sustainability Compact had been fulfilled but the safety inspection and factory up gradation were the continuous process. As much as 80 per cent remediation works in the factories which are the suppliers of EU and North American buyers have been completed and the rest of the works will be completed by 2018 as per the agreement with the buyers’ platforms, he said. ‘Responsible business conduct was one of the key requirements of the Sustainability Compact but we want to notice that the price of products are decreasing gradually in the EU and US markets in recent time,’ Siddiqur said. He requested the buyers to take initiative for ensuring responsible business conduct pointing out that the cost of doing business had been increased in the factories as owners had invested on an average Tk 5 crore for remediation. Siddiqur also requested the buyers for fair prices of products. The BGMEA senior vice-president Faruque Hassan and vice-president Mohammed Nasir were present at the briefing held at the headquarters of the trade body in the city.
