Atiur Rahman Has Given a Call for Strengthening and Upgrading The Country's RMG Sector

Atiur Rahman, Governor of Bangladesh Bank, has given a call for strengthening and upgrading the country’s readymade garment (RMG) sector.

The Governor was speaking at a seminar on ‘Responsible Business Lessons for the Bangladesh Ready Made Garment Sector’, organized by the CSR Centre, Dhaka.

He termed the contribution of the garments sector in Bangladesh for the past three decades as simply outstanding in terms of employment generation particularly for women, export earnings and domestic demand creation.

With the lion share in export and transforming itself as the top producer in South Asia, garments sector deserves to be the prime driver of change, the Governor said.

“Equally, they (the garment sector employers) are expected to be more responsible socially as well, particularly to their workers who are yet to get a credible living wage,” Mr. Rahman said.

He made a mention of a UK Government sponsored project ‘Responsible Accountable Garment Sector’ (RAGS), which was initiated in 2010 and is expected to end in December 2013.

He said the objective of RAGS is to engage in a holistic approach of developing the RMG sector through capacity building of mid-level management and workers, women’s empowerment through skill training and women’s cafes and women’s rights, working with small and medium enterprises and cottage industries to produce fair trade products and accessing global markets, using environment-friendly technology in the RMG sector.

In Bangladesh, there are 4 projects being implemented under RAGS, which are led by Actionaid
Bangladesh, Impact Foundation, Tesco and People Tree Foundation.

“Post Rana Plaza calamity has revealed that in order to create a sustainable RMG sector in the countries in Asia, there have to be proper implementation and concern on aspects of human rights, worker friendly environments through occupational health & safety issues, capacity building of workers and supply chain interventions which will adhere to global standards and create a ‘win-win’ situation for both employees /workers and factory owners,” Mr. Rahman said.

He suggested that “Investing in skill development of workers will enhance labor productivity and increase market share and bring in higher profits.”

“All stakeholders, both internal and external, must join hands to improve the working conditions in RMG sector, the life line of Bangladesh economy,” he concluded.