The International Apparel Federation (IAF) said it will work on harmonising the garment industry initiatives including audit systems.”Too many” initiatives are increasing the cost of doing business and putting price pressure on the supply chain, it said.”Too many initiatives are trying to improve our business. We are working on joining to combine these initiatives,” the visiting IAF president Han Bekke said, adding there are so many audits systems, which cost a lot of money.If these initiatives are harmonised, cost can be saved, he said, adding “We have to address this.”He was speaking at a press briefing on Thursday at the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) headquarters after two separate meetings with the leaders of the BGMEA and the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA).IAF secretary-general MatthijsCrietee, BGMEA president Md Siddiqur Rahman, vice presidents Moinuddin Ahmed and Mohammed Nasir, among others, were present at the briefing.The IAF chief said they are going to organise a meeting next year in Europe and the issues would be tabled there.The meeting will be attended by buyers, apparel companies and manufacturers, he noted.Responding to a question over Accord, he declined to make any comment, saying IAF is a national body and none of its members is in Accord.Regarding the China-US trade war, he said competition in Europe might intensify further and Bangladesh could take the opportunity of the gap to be created in the US, with China unable to sell there.The BGMEA president said, “We’ve long been demanding a unified code of conduct as it could save both time and money and also ensure compliance issues.”For many reasons, production cost has gone up by 30 per cent during the last four years and recently a 51 per cent hike in wage structure has been made, which would be effective from next month, he said.Entrepreneurs have been investing a large amount of money for safety purpose, but buyers are putting pressure on reducing the price, he noted.BKMEA former vice president Md Hatem also raised the price issue during the meeting with the BKMEA leaders, according to a statement.Despite aware of the fact that wage has recently been increased, buyers and retailers are competing each other to buy low-priced apparels from Bangladesh, he said.In some cases, they pressed for discount on negligible issue after shipment, he said, adding such practices are spoiling the global business environment.BKMEA vice president Mansoor Ahmed alleged that Accord and Alliance were harassing manufacturers on safety issues.He demanded a single global certification system and sought IAF’s assistance in this regard.Terming the traditional trade fair ‘not much effective’ Fazlul Haque, former leader of the BKMEA, called for organising product-based fairs.Both the apparel apex bodies called on the IAF to organise a global conference in Dhaka mainly to brand the image of the country focusing on the changes that have taken place the Rana Plaza building collapse.They had discussions on mutual collaboration to take the local industry forward and make it more sustainable
