DHAKA: Abdus Salam Murshedi, leader of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), has said foreign investment is no more necessary in the readymade garments sector.
“The foreign investment is not needed in the garment sector in Bangladesh but the investment is required for backward linkage,” he said.
The former BGMEA president made the observation while addressing a discussion meeting at National Press Club in city on Saturday.
Two organizations ‘Chintar Chash’ and ‘The Dhaka Forum’ arranged the meeting to find ways to face the challenges by readymade garments sector and to get rid of them.
He also said, “We started from the scratch after the liberation war and now we have an investment of around US $24 billion in the readymade garments sector; this was not achieved in a day.”
“We should focus on backward linkage industries and foreign investment is necessary in that sector not directly in ready made garments sector,” he said.
Exporters’ Association of Bangladesh (EAB) President Abdus Salam Murshedi also recommended providing gas and electricity connection in exchange-based system to those factories which will be shifted outside Dhaka.
Former governor of Bangladesh Bank Salehuddin Ahmed, noted columnist and historian Syed Abul Moksud, former adviser of caretaker government Hossain Zillur Rahman, first president of BKMEA Mohammad Hatem, Taslima Akhter Lima of Garments Sramik Sanghoti, among others, was present in the meeting.
BDST: 1825 HRS, AUG 09, 2014