Bangladesh has made significant progress in ensuring workplace safety at RMG factories, increasing wages of workers and developing their capacity for better productivity, insiders have observed.
However, the health and wellbeing of RMG workers are yet to be addressed properly, they pointed out.
This was discussed at a summit titled ‘Sustainable Apparel Summit’ on Wednesday in the city.
Minister of Commerce Tipu Munshi addressed the event as the chief guest. President DBCCI Faruque Hassan was also present there.
Ambassador of France to Bangladesh Marie-Annick Bourdin and Deputy Head of Mission and Head of Economic Affairs and Development Cooperation of Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands Jeroen Steeghs participated as special guests.
The summit was jointly organised by SNV Netherlands and Dutch-Bangla Chamber of Commerce and Industries (DBCCI).
The history of apparel in the region was vibrant from 15th to 18th century, and Bengal was the most important centre of cotton production, famous for the Maslin, which was based around Dhaka, said Marie-Annick Bourdin, adding that history repeated itself as Bangladesh is now the top second apparel exporter in the world.
Tipu Munshi said “We have a tragic experience of Rana Plaza collapsed. So we put our efforts to improve workplace safety, environment and other compliance issues of the garments factories. Now we have seven of the world’s 10 factories”.
In the summit three innovative models to ensure sustainable development of RMG workers were demonstrated and discussed by SNV Netherlands.
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