Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) President Dr Rubana Huq said foreign investment is needed for the development of backward linkage sector of country’s readymade garment (RMG) industry.“Businessmen would have to leave this (RMG) sector if its global competition efficiency is not strengthened,” she said while addressing a seminar in Dhaka.Mentioning that Bangladesh has already started losing denim market to Pakistan, the BGMEA president said, “We have to develop RMG’s backward linkage to strengthen our footprint in this sector and that is why foreign investment is needed.”Rubana Huq also laid emphasis on strengthening economic diplomacy to enter new markets.Entrepreneurs Club of Dhaka School of Economics (DScE) organized the seminar titled “State of Economy in the Era of Fourth Industrial Revolution: Perspective Bangladesh” on DScE campus.Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) Chairman Dr Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad gave welcome speech while Course Coordinator of DScE’s Entrepreneurship Economics Professor Dr Muhammad Mahmoob Ali chaired the seminar. Bangladesh Bank’s former executive director K M Jamsed Uz Zaman said nonperforming loans (NPLs) are increasing due to high interest rate of bank and the interest rate cannot be cut down for the inefficiency of banks.He also questioned the activities of the associations of bank owners and bank executives.Dr Muhammad Mahmoob Ali said foreign investment has to be brought in country but the government should highlight specific directives regarding how the investors could take profit to their countries.Rupali Bank’s former chairman Ahmed Al Kabir, former senior official at United Nations Dr Saidur Rahman, dean of university of Liberal Arts professor Dr Md Abdul Mottalib and DScE’s assistant professors Rehana Parveen and Sarah Tasneem, among others, also spoke.
