RMG industry committed to sustaining safety momentum: BGMEA

Alongside developing its capacities to retain competitiveness in the changing business landscape, Bangladesh's ready-made garment industry is also committed to sustaining the progress made so far in workplace safety, according to BGMEA President Faruque Hassan.

"The industry took notes of its past and has made unprecedented progress, particularly in the area of workplace safety, while we have also made exemplary strides in environmental sustainability in line with the demand of time and trends," said the president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).

Bangladesh RMG industry is committed to continuing its pursuit of excellence, he told a seminar organised by Particip GmbH on behalf of GIZ in Dhaka on Wednesday.

The programme briefed apparel and knitwear manufacturers on the communication component of factory compliance Sustainability in the Textile and Leather Sector in Bangladesh (STILE) project.

The communication component of STILE intends to contribute to improved compliance with social and environmental standards.

The project developed a pool of trainers from apparel, knitwear and footwear associations to build factory capacity, and will continue the intervention until November 2023.

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) is implementing the programme.

The seminar was moderated by Sarwat Ahmad, Senior Advisor at GIZ, while former director of BGMEA ANM Saifuddin also spoke at the event.

Anneke Magendans, team leader of the Particip GmbH led tripartite consortium, said, "Our approach does not stop with solely conducting training. The association trainers follow up by providing guidance to the factory committees and support them to bring into practice what they have learnt. Furthermore, the approach is fully transparent. Producers have access, via a QR code, to a website where they can find all related campaign and training materials."

Werner Lange, cluster coordinator of the GIZ Bangladesh Textile Cluster, said he is confident that Bangladesh is on its way to a similar achievement "from victim to victory" with "Made in Bangladesh".