The Netherlands has promised joint efforts with Bangladesh to ensure Bangladeshi apparel exporters get a fair price for their products in the international market, the Bangladeshi media has reported.
Netherlands foreign trade and development minister Lilianne Ploumen acknowledged the challenge that Bangaldeshi exporters face and said it is the responsibility of the government and industry owners to ensure factory safety and workers’ rights.
“But it is also the responsibility of buyers, retailers and consumers to come up with true pricing,” she said at a press briefing after a meeting in Dhaka that took stock of post-Rana Plaza developments.
Bangladesh commerce minister Tofail Ahmed and ambassadors of the European countries and the US were also present at the event.
“We have to address the true pricing jointly,” she said and promised to support efforts to convene a conference on the issue.
Tofail Ahmed also raised the issue of fair pricing at the press briefing. He also said the devaluation of the euro has further affected Bangladesh’s main clothing export market in the EU.
The press briefing was preceded by a close-door interaction with RMG stakeholders both within the government, the industry, and the development partners.
Netherlands is one of the largest buyers of Bangladeshi garments where this main export item enjoys duty-free market access. Industry owners have been complaining that they are not getting a fair price for their products.
The Dutch minister said they had discussed the issue of “true pricing” in the meeting.
The pricing question also figured in a joint statement issued after the talks. In the joint statement, the Dutch minister “affirmed her support to convening a conference in Bangladesh to address the issues related to ‘access to finance’ and ‘fair pricing’ in the RMG sector in the near future”.
In the joint statement, both ministers underscored that “fair pricing should also reflect, among others, the cost of fire, structural, and electrical safety, and reasonable working hour in order to avoid workers having to pay the ultimate price through poor working conditions”.
