Bangladesh RMG industry globally praised for strides in safety and sustainability: BGMEA President

Bangladesh is recognised and praised globally as one of the safest and greenest apparel sourcing destinations in the world, and its impressive achievements have boosted the trust and confidence of global buyers in the garments with "Made in Bangladesh" tag, said Faruque Hassan, president of BGMEA.

Building on the achievements, Bangladesh's RMG industry has continued its all-out efforts to grow in a manner that is sustainable and keeps positive impacts on the planet and the people, he said.

His comments came while speaking at a webinar organised by International Trade Centre (ITC) on Thursday (13 October) where he shared the strides BGMEA has made towards making the RMG industry of Bangladesh one of the safest and greenest industries in the world.

BGMEA President Faruque Hassan was invited to the webinar by ITC to share his views, insights and experience of heading BGMEA.

He also shed lights on the best practices and initiatives of BGMEA and the clothing sector in Bangladesh at large, reads a press release.

In his speech Faruque Hassan said, "Bangladesh has earned global accolades for the remarkable strides in the areas of workplace safety, environmental sustainability and workers' rights and welfare."

He thanked the ITC for featuring the commendable good practices of Bangladesh's RMG industry in the "Good Practices in the Global Apparel Industry" – the latest publication launched by the ITC.

BGMEA has been selected in the publication as a case study of best practices in the category of "Effective management of industry".

"While the recognition will inspire us to pursue excellence, it will motivate other countries to follow the suit," he said.

Dr Rajesh Bheda, author of publication and CEO of Rajesh Bheda Consulting; Tuli Cooray, secretary-general, Joint Apparel Association Forum, Sri Lanka; and Dr Vandana Bhandari, professor, National Institute of Fashion Technology, India also spoke at the webinar which was moderated by Delphine Clement, programme officer at ITC.

The RMG industry of Bangladesh places utmost importance to sustainability, Faruque Hassan said, adding that having the highest number of green factories in Bangladesh is the glowing example of our committed efforts towards sustainability.

He said BGMEA has taken an initiative of industry wide "ESG Digital Cloud based data disclosure Platform" through which all BGMEA member factories would be disclosing their data in the digital platform through which BGMEA would be able to develop an industry ESG dash board.

BGMEA has published its "Sustainability Strategic ESG vision 2030" that looks into all ESG issues pertinent to the industry and is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals and the Bangladesh's National Priority Indicators.

BGMEA has established the "Centre of innovation efficiency and OSH" to support the industry to enhance sustainability and boost productivity and innovation within the sector, he added.