Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed on Tuesday said the government will set up 17 special economic zones aimed at providing investment opportunities and facilities to the foreign investors who intend to expand their investment in Bangladesh. The commerce minister made the remarks while addressing the launching event of the Center of Excellence for Bangladesh Apparel Industry (CEBAI) at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in the city. Saying that Bangladesh’s apparel industry is growing and will keep growing in a faster pace in the days to come, the minister said Bangladesh would touch the mark of $50-billion export mark, with significant contribution from RMG sector while it would mark the 50th anniversary of its independence. He mentioned that the ILO and EU representatives expressed their satisfaction over the practical progress in implementation of Bangladesh Sustainability Compact, an agreement which obligates the Bangladesh government to take real steps towards ensuring factory safety and protecting workers’ rights. “Starting from scratch soon after the independence, Bangladesh is now considered as one of the world’s emerging economies and this has been possible for the hard work, innovative initiatives and capacity of the business community,” he added. Citing that Bangladesh has been maintaining a steady GDP growth of over 6 percent for the last six years, Tofail said “Now we are ahead of many other countries in terms of social and human developments.” He said Bangladesh will turn into a middle-income country within the year 2021 as all the economic indicators are moving towards a positive direction. He also expressed hope that the CEBAI would play a significant role in upholding the export-oriented sector particularly in the of RMG sector. BGMEA President Atiqul Islam presided over the launching ceremony where State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam MP, ILO Assistant Director General and Regional Director for the Asia Pacific Ms. Tomoko Nishimoto, BGMEA Vice President (Finance) Reaz Bin Mahmood, SIDA Deputy Head Mission of Karin Mcdonald, H&M Country Manager Roger Hubert, ILO Country Director Srinivas Reddy were also present. Dr. Syed Ferhat Anwar, Professor, IBA, University of Dhaka, presented the keynote paper on CEBAI at the ceremony. “The CEBAI has been established in such a moment when we also need to work with our target of achieving $50 billion export on celebration of 50th anniversary of independence along with its core vision of –not stretching out the glory rather do work together to retain a sustainable growth and competitive edge of this industry” BGMEA President Atiqul Islam said while addressing the function. The speakers at the function mentioned that the CEBAI demonstrates that with an industry-based training focus, an initiative can effectively increase employability and drive higher incomes for the working poor. The Center of Excellence will also help guide the sector towards higher productivity, value addition and the use of new technology while facilitating trade and investment, they observed.
Source: https://www.daily-sun.com/print/back-page/2015/04/22/499338

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has called for greater social dialogue among representatives of government, employers and workers within the country’s ready-made garment sector, highlighting the gains this would bring, reports BSS. “There are considerable benefits to be gained by both businesses and workers from enhanced social dialogue and the better industrial relations this leads to”, Tomoko Nishimoto, Assistant Director General and Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific of the ILO, said. Nishimoto was speaking at a National Tripartite Consultation on Strengthening Social Dialogue and Industrial Relations in Bangladesh at a city hotel on Tuesday. State Minister for Labour and Employment Mujibul Haque Chunnu was the chief guest at the event, organised by ILO with support from the governments of Denmark and Norway. The consultation was organised in order to gain the views and input from representatives of government, employers, workers organisations and development partners on proposed new ILO initiatives to further advance workplace cooperation and industrial relations in Bangladesh. Nishimoto said social dialogue could deliver enhanced wages and better working conditions by helping workers realise their fundamental rights such as freedom of association and collective bargaining. She explained that for ILO, social dialogue included all types of negotiation, consultation and exchange of information between, or among, representatives of governments, employers and workers on issues of common interest. “It is in the very real interests of both workers and businesses to have robust social dialogue at both enterprise and sectoral level,” she added. Secretary for Labour and Employment Mikail Shipar, Vice-President of the Bangladesh Employers Federation (BEF) Sabrina Islam, President of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Md. Atiqul Islam, First Vice-President of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) A. H. Aslam Sunny, Chairman of the National Coordination Committee for Workers’ Education (NCCWE) Abdul Mukit Khan, Secretary General of the IndustriAll Bangladesh Council (IBC) Roy Ramesh Chandra and Country Director ILO Bangladesh Srinivas Reddy also participated in the dialogue.

Source: https://www.newstoday.com.bd/index.php?option=details&news_id=2409079&date=2015-04-22

Journey of the Center of Excellence for Bangladesh Apparel Industry (CEBAI) was started on Tuesday aimed at improving the productivity of country’s readymade garments (RMG) through research and development. Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) in association with SIDA, H&M and ILO has taken the initiative of establishing the CEBAI to improve RMG productivity by creating skilled and semi-skilled workers through giving market- responsive training or providing support for skill development endeavor by any member company. It will also research the challenges and ways to overcome them, policy recommendations, product diversification and wage mechanism. Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed unveiled the logo of CEBAI at a function in a city hotel as the chief guest. Speaking on the occasion, the commerce minister said the CEBAI can play a significant and important role in the industry by providing skills and need based training. “Most importantly, the centre will also regularly conduct research on the industry to keep it in the right track of development and act as the think tank for the apparel industry,” opined Tofail Ahmed. Mentioning CEBAI as the first such centre going to be established not only in the country but also in the world, he hoped “it would act as an important catalyst for our industry’s growth through research and skill development programme.” State Minister for Foreign Affair M Shariar Alam, FBCCI President Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed, BGMEA President Atiqul Islam, ambassadors and high commissioners of different countries, ILO Director Srinivas B Reddy, SIDA deputy head of mission and head of cooperation Karin Mcdonald and representatives of H&M also spoke on the occasion. Dr Syed Ferhat Anwar, Professor of IBA of Dhaka University, made a presentation on the aims, goals and activities of CEBAI. He said the CEBAI would mainly concentrate on boosting productivity through skill development and market responsive approach. It would provide all sorts of training and skills solutions, basic, regular and product based research, professional consultation and new market development. Three core wings would be made the CEBAI functional. The Skills delivery wing will be set up at Ashulia while Research and Planning Cell will be at the Dhaka University and other activities would be conducted at the private enterprises. The CEBAI would function as training providers, training regulations, new entrants, employers and industry and employed workers. Earlier in December last, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the Centre of Excellence (COE) project at the opening session of the two-day Dhaka Apparel Summit. Centre of Excellence (COE) project also aims to produce 6,000 skilled workers with the help of the industry by next two years. Swedish SIDA and retailer H&M are funding $1.5 million for the first three years of the project to be implemented by ILO. Bangladesh is expecting to raise its RMG export to US$50 billion by 2021. For meeting the growing global demand and export target, the country will need 3.5 million skilled and semi-skilled workers by next seven years.
Source: https://www.newstoday.com.bd/index.php?option=details&news_id=2409077&date=2015-04-22

Centre of Excellence for Bangladesh Apparel Industry started its journey on Tuesday aimed at improving the productivity of country’s readymade garments through research and development. The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association in association with SIDA, H&M and ILO has taken the initiative of establishing the CEBAI to improve RMG productivity by creating skilled and semi-skilled workers through giving market-responsive training or providing support for skill development endeavour by any member company. It will also research the challenges and ways to overcome them, policy recommendations, product diversification and wage mechanism. Commerce minister Tofail Ahmed unveiled the logo of CEBAI at a function at a hotel in Dhaka chief guest. Speaking on the occasion, the commerce minister said the CEBAI could play a significant and important role in the industry by providing skills and need based training. ‘Most importantly, the centre will also regularly conduct research on the industry to keep it in the right track of development and act as the think tank for the apparel industry,’ opined Tofail Ahmed. Mentioning CEBAI as the first such centre going to be established not only in the country but also in the world, he hoped ‘it would act as an important catalyst for our industry’s growth through research and skill development programme.’ State minister for foreign affairs M Shariar Alam, FBCCI president Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed, BGMEA president Atiqul Islam, ambassadors and high commissioners of different countries, ILO director Srinivas B Reddy, SIDA deputy head of mission and head of cooperation Karin Mcdonald and representatives of H&M also spoke on the occasion. Dhaka University IBA professor Syed Ferhat Anwar made a presentation on the aims, goals and activities of CEBAI. He said the CEBAI would mainly concentrate on boosting productivity through skill development and market responsive approach. It would provide all sorts of training and skills solutions, basic, regular and product based research, professional consultation and new market development. Three core wings would be made the CEBAI functional. The skills delivery wing will be set up at Ashulia while research and planning cell will be at Dhaka University and other activities would be conducted at the private enterprises. The CEBAI would function as training providers, training regulations, new entrants, employers and industry and employed workers. Earlier in December last, prime minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the Centre of Excellence project at the opening session of the two-day Dhaka Apparel Summit. Centre of Excellence project also aims to produce 6,000 skilled workers with the help of the industry by next two years. Swedish SIDA and retailer H&M are funding $1.5 million for the first three years of the project to be implemented by the ILO. Bangladesh is expecting to raise its RMG export to $50 billion by 2021. For meeting the growing global demand and export target, the country will need 3.5 million skilled and semi-skilled workers by next seven years.

Source: https://newagebd.net/113535/cebai-starts-journey-to-improve-rmg-productivity-thru-research/#sthash.fmWyrDX4.dpbs

The living standard of the Rana Plaza victims and their families went down in the last two years after the tragic incident for lack of proper and adequate support, said the fourth monitoring report of Centre for Policy Dialogue published on Tuesday. In a dialogue on ‘Rana Plaza Tragedy: After Two Years’, the CPD report said among the injured workers few were employed locally in off-farm jobs and in most cases their income was below what they would get previously. Khondaker Golam Moazzem, additional research director of the CPD, presented the report in the event held At BRAC Centre Inn in the capital, saying that they conducted a telephone interview with a selected number of victims and their family members and found that despite various initiatives they were not financially at the same level compared to their condition prior of the collapse of Rana Plaza. According to the report, the respondent victims are still suffering from various physical and mental problems and many of them are constrained by financial inadequacy. The report also said two year after the incident the victims are yet to get the full compensation. Lack of progress of the directives of the High Court with regard to compensation is another hurdle to local initiatives, the report stated. Morium Begum, wife of a deceased day-labourer, said she lost her husband in the Rana Plaza collapse but she was yet to receive any compensation as her husband was not garment worker. ‘After the tragedy I received the body of my husband with Tk 20,000 for burial and till now I got nothing else,’ she said. Jesmin Akter, a survivor of Rana Plaza, said in the accident she received injury in the spine and got treatment from Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed. ‘Now I cannot move and treatment is still going on but I received only Tk 50,000 from the Trust Fund as compensation,’ she said. Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmmed, assistant executive director of Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies, said the culture of accountability should be developed to bring the people responsible for the incident to book. Abdus Salam Murshedy, president of the Exporters Association of Bangladesh, urged the victims and their families, who were yet to get financial support, to contract the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association. Murshedy announced to take the responsibility of Jesmin Akter, a survivor, and asked her to join his company. Labour secretary Mikail Shiper said if the victims and their families thought that the assessment of their compensation amount was not right they could file complaints with the Rana Plaza Claim Administration.

Source: https://newagebd.net/113674/living-standard-of-rana-plaza-victims-fell-in-2yrs-cpd/#sthash.o6qE9Wxz.dpuf

Transparency International, Bangladesh on Tuesday alleged that about Tk 108 crore of the prime minister’s relief and welfare fund for Rana Plaza victims was yet to be distributed among the affected workers. TIB chair Sultana Kamal, launching a report at a press conference in the city, also alleged that although the government had taken many initiatives, those were yet to be implemented due to an underhand deal with the owners’ associations. The transparency watchdog published the report on Rana Plaza titled ‘steps taken to establish good governance in readymade garment sector: review of last one year’s progress,’ prepared as a follow-up to a 2013 TIB report with focus on 80 ongoing initiatives taken by the government and stakeholders between April 2014 and April 2015. TIB assistant programme manager Nazmul Huda Mina, while presenting the report, said that the prime minister’s fund collected from various sources including donations for Rana Plaza victims amounted to Tk 127 crore, but about Tk 108 crore remained unutilised. The Prime Minister’s Office rejected the report, terming it unacceptable and inaccurate. A statement issued by the prime minister’s press wing said that there was no existence of any fund or any cheque for Rana Plaza victims at the Prime Minister’s Office. Rana Plaza at Savar bus stop collapsed on April 24, 2013, killing more than 1,100 people, mostly apparel workers, and injuring several hundred, while about 160 were still missing. The report said that the fund was initially distributed among the Rana Plaza victims as relief, but now it was being considered as ‘compensations.’ It said that buyers and international organisations had also promised about $40 million for the victims, but they had so far given $19 million to the Rana Plaza Donors’ Trust Fund of which 70 per cent had been distributed. The government was yet to publish the victims’ list, who got compensations, and information of operation expenditure of the trust fund while there were allegations of lengthy process and lack of transparency in distribution and fixing amounts of compensation, the report said. About cases filed for the accident, Nazmul said that the Criminal Investigation Department was yet to submit investigation report of two cases, while the Anti-Corruption Commission submitted charge sheet in a case out of the three. Sultana Kamal said that the perpetrators could not be held accountable due to a lengthy legal process. TIB executive director Iftekharuzzaman said that the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 had some limitations including insufficient punishment and compensation while there were also allegations of misuse of its different sections. The report also said that since the tragic incident, 220 factories had been closed and 100 to 150 thousand workers had been unemployed due to cancellation of work orders by foreign buyers. TIB recommended establishment of a separate ministry for monitoring and coordinating the apparel industries, formation of a public sector board to implement different steps, preparation of a labour database and creation of a fund for sub-contract and small factories. The PMO statement said that after Rana Plaza collapse many came up with financial assistances and submitted their aid amount to the prime minister’s relief and welfare fund but there was no record of deposition of money to create separate fund for Rana Plaza victims. From the fund, Fixed Deposit Receipt accounts of Tk 5 lakh to Tk 30 lakh have been opened against the families who have lost their sole bread-earners in different accidents, it said.

Source: https://newagebd.net/113675/tk-108cr-remain-unutilised-tib/#sthash.HQ1Yeq6r.dpuf

The Center of Excellence for Bangladesh Apparel Industry (CEBAI) was launched yesterday aimed at improving the productivity of country’s readymade garments (RMG) through research and development, reports BSS. Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) in association with SIDA, H&M and ILO has taken the initiative of establishing the CEBAI to improve RMG productivity by creating skilled and semi-skilled workers through giving market-responsive training or providing support for skill development endeavor by any member company. It will also research the challenges and ways to overcome them, policy recommendations, product diversification and wage mechanism. Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed unveiled the logo of CEBAI at a function in a city hotel as the chief guest. Speaking on the occasion, the commerce minister said the centre can play a significant and important role in the industry by providing skills and need based training. “Most importantly, the centre will also regularly conduct research on the industry to keep it in the right track of development and act as the think tank for the apparel industry,” opined Tofail Ahmed. Mentioning CEBAI as the first such centre going to be established not only in the country but also in the world, he hoped “It would act as an important catalyst for our industry’s growth through research and skill development programme.” State Minister for Foreign Affair M Shariar Alam, FBCCI President Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed, BGMEA President Atiqul Islam, ambassadors and high commissioners of different countries, ILO Director Srinivas B Reddy, SIDA deputy head of mission and head of cooperation Karin Mcdonald and representatives of H&M also spoke on the occasion. It would provide all sorts of training and skills solutions, basic, regular and product based research, professional consultation and new market development. Three core wings would be made the CEBAI functional. The skills delivery wing will be set up at Ashulia while Research and Planning Cell will be at the Dhaka University and other activities would be conducted at the private enterprises. Swedish SIDA and retailer H&M are funding $1.5 million for the first three years of the project to be implemented by ILO.
Source: https://www.theindependentbd.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=255576:new-institution-to-improve-rmg-productivity-launched&catid=110:business-others&Itemid=156

ACCORD, a buyers’ group which is conducting inspections at listed RMG factories, has identified 52,605 kinds of problems in these factories, said a report of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), a civil society think-tank. More than 1250 RMG factories out of their list of 1400 have now been inspected by ACCORD, reports UNB. The report reveals most of the RMG factories fall short in terms of common safety measures, lacking fire doors in stairwells, inadequate automatic fire alarm systems, inadequate fire separations and protected exits and lack of lateral stability in structure. It says out of the 52,605 different kinds of problems, only 782 have so far been corrected, another 10,248 have been pending for verification and the remaining 80 per cent problems still persist. The fourth monitoring report, ‘Moving beyond the Shadow of the Rana Plaza Tragedy: In Search of the Closure and Restructuring Strategy’ was presented by CPD additional research director Khondaker G Moazzem at a dialogue yesterday. CPD organised the dialogue on ‘Rana Plaza Tragedy: Two Years After’ at BRAC Centre Inn in the capital. The CPD monitoring report found that about 800 RMG firms exist which are not members of any organisation such as BGMEA and BKMEA. These factories need to be internalised in the formalisation process and need to be inspected properly. CPD senior fellow Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya questioned as the 800 factories are not members of either BGMEA and BKMEA yet, who will take responsibility if an incident like Rana Plaza tragedy takes place in these factories? About the state of RMG factories, the report says a total of 32 factories have been closed after Rana Plaza collapse because of safety concerns and several thousands workers were being affected. In most cases, the workers received necessary financial benefits from factory owners and other sources. However, in a number of cases, workers have not yet received their proper dues. A major concern in this regard is to ensure their reemployment in the RMG sector, the report says.Labor and Employment secretary Mikail Shipar, assistant executive director of BILS Syed Sultan Uddin Ahammed and executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Dr Iftekharuzzaman, among others, spoke at the dialogue.

Source: https://www.theindependentbd.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=255578:bulk-of-problems-unaddressed-cpd&catid=110:business-others&Itemid=156

The Centre of Excellence for Bangladesh Apparel Industries (CEBAI) was launched Tuesday with an aim to develop skills of garment workers while raising value addition to the industry. The Bangladesh government, the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the Swedish government, leading Swedish fashion retailer Hennes and Mauritz (H&M), and the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) organised the launching programme at a city hotel. Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed was present as the chief guest with BGMEA president Atiqul Islam in the chair. Earlier on December 07 last year, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina opened the CEBAI during a ceremony held at the Dhaka Apparel Summit at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the capital. The ILO will implement the CEBAI project in partnership with the Bangladesh Technical Education Board (BTEB), the National Skills Development Council (NSDC) secretariat, the Department of Technical Education (DTE), the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) and ministries of employment, labour, and expatriate welfare and overseas employment, employers and workers’ organisations and donors. The duration of the project will be from January 01, 2014 till December 31, 2016. Tofail Ahmed said skill development and productivity enhancement are the two main challenges in achieving the US$ 50 billion target. “We are still behind our competitor countries in terms of productivity. The CEBAI can play a significant role in this regard by providing skills and need-based training for our industry,” he said. The minister said the initiative is not only the first in Bangladesh, but also in the world. After the collapse of Rana Plaza, many initiatives were taken, said the minister, adding Rana Plaza is not the only story of Bangladesh. The CEBAI demonstrates that with an industry-based training focus, an initiative can effectively increase employability and drive higher incomes for the working poor. It will also help guide the sector towards higher productivity, value addition and use of new technology while facilitating trade and investment. The project will give training and certification for instructors, industry trainers and assessors and briefings for managers and owners of enterprises. Consistent with employment trends of the RMG sector, most beneficiaries will be women and there is a 5.0 per cent target to include people with disabilities. State minister for foreign affairs Shariar Alam said after the Rana Plaza collapse, all the stakeholders raised their voices for better delivery from Bangladesh’s readymade garment industry. Thus the country has turned the threat into opportunity. The CEBAI itself has challenges which need to be fine-tuned, he said. It is better suitable in a university, he noted. Mr Srinivas B Reddy said this is just a beginning which will not only improve skills but add value to the industry. It can address issues like productivity and value chain improvement and social development. Canadian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Benoît-Pierre Laramée said skills development has been a key element for making RMG industry prosperous, competitive and sustainable. German Ambassador to Bangladesh Dr Thomas Prinz said vocational training is compositeness of German industry as 66 per cent students receive vocational training in Germany which is the backbone. Bangladesh is also on the right track.

Source: https://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2015/04/22/89781

The head of garment lobbyists Tuesday voiced concern over ‘abuse’ of power by trade union leaders, saying cultural lag makes them vulnerable to malpractice. Md Atiqul Islam, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, also expressed his fear about the ‘external influence’ and political motives of bargain agents. “Our concern is that there is a lack of education, awareness on the principles of trade union, and motivation among our workers,” he said. “Their age and cultural backwardness make trade unions vulnerable to abuse the power of union,” he added. His concerns came at a social dialogue, held at a city hotel, which was jointly organised by International Labour Organization and governments of Denmark and Norway. “There is always a fear of external influence and politicisation of the trade unions that can only lead to disruption,” he said. To enable the industry to have a proper functioning of the trade union, Mr Islam said the first and the foremost prerequisite is to educate the people, increase awareness, train and motivate the workers on their rights and responsibilities. “We are in support of legal and constructive trade union, so that we can create a better industrial atmosphere, that’s our motto,” he said requesting to include the productivity and efficiency component in the social dialogue design. Tomoko Nishimoto, Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific of the ILO, said there are considerable benefits to be gained by both businesses and workers from enhanced social dialogue. She added that for the workforce social dialogue can deliver enhanced wages and better working conditions by helping workers realise their fundamental rights such as freedom of association and collective bargaining. Ms Nishimoto explained that for ILO, social dialogue included all types of negotiation, consultation and exchange of information between, or among, representatives of governments, employers and workers on issues of common interest. “It is in the very real interests of both workers and businesses to have robust social dialogue at both enterprise and sectoral level,” she added. Explaining different steps taken by the government, State Minister for Labour Mujibul Haque Chunnu said law has been amended and the rules to implement the law will finalise shortly. Secretary General of the IndustriAll Bangladesh Council (IBC) Roy Ramesh Chandra said effective and meaningful dialogue is the prerequisite for a sustainable industry and a sound industrial relation is inevitable for productivity to maintain uninterrupted production process. The government should create an atmosphere so that workers can organise and bargain collectively while the employers should treat workers as partner of production, he said. “Trade unions should exercise creative and constructive and responsible role to ensure that unionisation is not a problem but a solution,” he said. He also called the brands to pay “right” price by which manufacturers can make a profit to pay the living wages of workers. Labour Secretary Mikail Shipar, Vice-President of the Bangladesh Employers Federation (BEF) Sabrina Islam, First Vice-President of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) AH Aslam Sunny, Chairman of National Coordination Committee for Workers’ Education (NCCWE) Abdul Mukit Khan and ILO Country Director in Bangladesh Srinivas Reddy, among others, spoke at the dialogue.

Source: https://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2015/04/22/89777