Member of the European Parliament Sajjad Karim on Saturday urged the Bangladesh government and the readymade garment exporters to start necessary groundwork for availing the GSP plus benefit in the EU market as the country would lose generalised system of preferences in the market once it achieves middle-income country status. ‘Bangladesh garment industry needs a move from GSP to GSP plus and it is essential that we start the groundwork now,’ the visiting European Parliament member told reporters after a meeting with the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association at the BGMEA office in the city. EU ambassador Pierre Mayaudon, BGMEA president Md Atiqul Islam, vice-president SM Mannan Koci and former vice-president Siddiqur Rahman were present, among others, in the meeting. Sajjad, also the chair of European Parliament for Trade and Monitoring Group for South Asia, condemned the killing of blogger Niladri Chattopadhya Niloy and called on the Bangladesh government to take necessary steps to bring the perpetrators to justice. He called for implementing all the conditions of the Sustainability Compact and said that the Compact was designed in such a way that would improve the safety standards of the garment industry in Bangladesh. Mayaudon put emphasis on the implementation of the Sustainability Compact. ‘We should not waste time in addressing all the issues outlined in the Compact as it is for the safety of the workers.’ He said that the EU would provide vocational training to the Bangladeshi workers for skill development. The BGMEA president requested the visiting member of the European Parliament to pay more attention to the price issue to build a secured global market where workplace and jobs would be safer and sustainable.
