International Cotton Association leaders have said in view of growing consumption of cotton in Bangladesh the platform wants to provide wide range of mediation and training support for trade associations and individual mills to ensure safe trading under ICA bylaws. The future of textile industry in Bangladesh is bright and the ICA is in Bangladesh to strengthen the bonds between the association and Bangladeshi spinning and textile sectors as the country is now the second largest cotton importer, they said. ‘The ICA has training programmes in Liverpool and we have visited several times in Bangladesh and delivered the training programmes so that parties could know what are right and about the obligations,’ Jurg Reinhart, vice-president of the ICA told New Age in an interview at Banani in the capital Dhaka on Thursday. Rules are very important aspect here in Bangladesh because 100 per cent of cotton which is bought in Bangladesh is contracted under the ICA bylaws and rules, so the parties should better know under which rules and bylaws they buy a product, he said. ‘Apart from that we have education programmes on quality, risk management and so on and we want to educate the party so that it should bring added value to the industry,’ Jurg said.He admitted that synthetic fibre was a threat for cotton but both the production and consumption of cotton had increased globally. During fluctuation of cotton price the ICA plays a vital role in ensuring that both the buyers and sellers of cotton are protected and respect contracts sanctity, Jurg said. Kai Hughes, the chief executive officer of the ICA, said the trade association and arbitral body was 175 years old that provided framew ork for world cotton trade. If there are disputes regarding the bylaws and rules, the ICA resolves that through arbitration and mediation and there are a good number of success stories in Bangladesh in resolving disagreements, he said. ‘Disputes are coming in two forms, one is of contractual and the other is of quality. The vast majority of dispute that we have to deal with are of contractual types,’ Kai said. ‘The whole aim of the ICA is to create contract sanctity in a safe trade environment. Our community is for safe trading. On the other hand we want people to understand what are the bylaws and rules and so we offer training,’ he said. Hissam Khandakar, director of Delcot Enterprises Limited, one of the members of the ICA, said one of the objectives of ICA was to create safe trade environment. The ICA plays a vital role for Bangladesh textile sector and cotton worth over $2 billion is being imported to Bangladesh under ICA rules and bylaws. Bangladesh imports about four million bales of cotton per year.
