Minister Nurul Islam Nahid has termed the country’s readymade garment (RMG) industry a goose that lays golden eggs as some 4.5 million female workers alongside a good total of male ones are employed in this sector. He urged the garment exporters to lay greater emphasis on making the industry reliant on local youths having skills of international standard especially in the field of design and fashion to cope with other global RMG exporters. The education minister said that the foreign experts employed in making newer designs and fashion in the RMG buying houses are earning a lot of money staying herein our country by means of their superior performance. “Our youths can become even better quality masters and experts in the field if provided with proper academic environment which is prevailing in the CBIFT and BUFT as they have developed designs suiting the choice and taste of the foreign buyers,” he said. The minister said this while speaking as the chief guest at the fourth anniversary of the CBIFT (Chittagong BGMEA Institute of Fashion and Technology) and passing out ceremony of the first batch trainees who successfully completed four-year BSc Honours course from the institute. The event was organised here Saturday night at the auditorium of Chittagong Club Ltd in the port city. A total of 14 students were given the degree of BSc Honours from the Apparel Manufacture and Technology (AMT) with 12 more from the Fashion Design and Technology (FDT). Presided over by the President of the governing body of the CBIFT and Managing Director of Eastern Group Nasir Uddin Chowdhury, the ceremony was addressed as special guests by Vice-Chancellor of Chittagong University Professor Iftekhar Uddin Chowdhury and BGMEA President Siddiqur Rahman. First Vice-President of the BGMEA in Chittagong Moinuddin Ahmed Mintu and Founder Chairman of the Trustee Board of the BUFT (BGMEA University of Fashion and Technology) Mujaffar Uddin Siddiq also spoke as guests of honour. The minister said there was only one per cent skilled workforce in the country when this government was voted to power. Now the percentage stands at 26. By the year 2020, this figure is expected to stand at 65. “Days will come when we will export quality technicians and skilled manpower in different fields from this country to other countries instead of importing,” he hoped.
