The Kingdom of the Netherlands and Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) will organise a sustainable sourcing conference in Dhaka to enhance common understanding of sustainable versus unsustainable sourcing from the RMG sector and showcase new sourcing practices The conference titled Sustainable Sourcing in the Garment Sector (SSGS) will be held on September 29 at Hotel Raddission Blu in Dhaka. Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed is expected to present at the conference as the chief guest while Lilianne Ploumen, minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation of the Netherlands, will attend at the opening session. SSGS will be organised by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Dhaka in partnership with the International Apparel Federation (IAF) and the Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA). The conference will emphasise the need for advancing a common understanding on sustainable sourcing practices through promoting multi-stakeholders cooperation and presenting best practices. It will focus on enhancing a mutual understanding of sustainable versus unsustainable sourcing, and to showcase new sourcing practices that will be beneficial for all stakeholders in the garment value chain. In the conference, there will have three sessions – Global trends in garment sector and opportunities for Bangladesh, International framework for sustainable sourcing: setting the outline for future collaboration and Success factors for sustainable production and sourcing. “The prime objective of the conference is to present Bangladesh’s present status in terms of safety, workers rights, production capacity, quality and value addition,” BGMEA senior vice-president Faruq Hassan told the Dhaka Tribune. Manufacturers have done job by improving safety standards. They also installed digital machinery and latest technology to produce products in line with the international standard, said Hassan. Exporters have to invest a lot of money in upgradation and the buyers also have some responsibilities about pricing and above all cooperation. The buyers can help manufactures enhance workers efficiency and productivity, all these issues would be broadly discussed in the conference, said the association leader, who is also the managing director of Giant Group.
