Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali on Friday said Bangladesh should strengthen networks with major cotton producing countries and diversify supply sources to increase its resilience against any external or global economic shocks.Bangladesh also must sharpen its focus on the enhanced production of cotton in the country to tackle the foreseeable challenges in the cotton sector, he said.”This will make our products more competitive, not only by saving import cost but also reducing high import dependency on cotton,” said the Foreign Minister while addressing the “Global Cotton Summit Bangladesh 2017″ at a city hotel as the chief guest.President of Bangladesh Cotton Association Rotarian Muhammad Ayub, among others, spoke at the inaugural session.The Foreign Minister said they need to accord due priority to research and innovation, skills development, capacity building and the use of modern technologies to produce high-yielding quality cotton in Bangladesh.”We must also encourage our cotton farmers and growers by ensuring reasonable price for our own cotton. The role of Bangladesh Cotton Association would be critically important in this regard,” he said.He said robust entrepreneurship, effective compliance mechanism, productivity improvement and quality assurance are the key drivers for any industry or sector to grow, expand and prosper. “This could be achieved through strong bond of friendship and partnership among the relevant sectors and stakeholders,” Mahmood Ali said.He mentioned that the government stands ready to play its role in facilitating any of such arrangements that could eventually result in a win-win outcome for all. Bangladesh is in need of constant and voluminous supply of cotton to meet the appetite of its garments and textile industries. Bangladesh is currently ranked 2nd largest cotton importer after China.”The demand for cotton is escalating – in extent and rate – as we prepare to fulfil our local needs of RMG and textiles as well as increase the volume of their exports to US$ 50 billion by 2021, the Foreign Minister said.
