The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Dhaka

The government has taken necessary steps for continuing the current momentum of progress in the country's garment sector so that it could survive in the competition of quota-free world, said Textiles and Jute Adviser Mohammed Anwarul Iqbal.

He made the remarks at a daylong seminar titled "New Vision and Development of National Institute of Textile Training, Research and Design (NITTRAD): Presentation of Assessment Reports" at a city hotel yesterday.

The seminar was organized by the Ministry of Textiles and Jute in cooperation with Bangladesh Quality Support Programme (BQSP) of European Union (EU) and United Nations Industrial Development Organizations (UNIDO), aiming to improve the productivity and quality of textiles and RMG products so that the textiles and RMG sector could survive in the competition of global and domestic markets.

In his speech, the Adviser said the country's garment sector has now become a 4-billion-dollar foreign exchange earner, enjoying the status of one of the largest garment and T-shirt exporters to the EU and also one of the largest apparel exporters to the USA.

"With the MFA being phased out from 2005, the manufacturers and exporters of RMG in Bangladesh are competing in a greater context on the global apparel market," he told the seminar.

"Now the country has a very liberal investment climate. It takes, for instance, just three days for a foreign investment registration and there is no discrimination between foreign and local private investors. Hundred percent foreign investment as well as joint ventures with local partners are allowed here," Iqbal said.

Considering the problems facing by the textile sector, he said, "Whatever might be the problems ahead of us, the trend of our progress in this sector shows that a new generation of entrepreneurs have emerged."

He hoped that the present rate of development in the overall textile sector in the country will continue and the country's foreign currency earning from RMG export would cross 5 billion US dollars before 2010.

Textiles and Jute Secretary Abdur Rashid Sarker presided over the opening session. Officials from different ministries, representatives from EU, UNIDO, BQSP, BTMA, BGMEA, BKMEA and BIFT attended the seminar.

Different issues such as spinning, weaving, dying, knitting and quality control came up for discussion in five sessions of the seminar.

Later, an agreement was signed between NITTRAD and Niederrhein University of Germany to upgrade the education and training facilities of NITTRAD.

Marie Louise Klotz, Dean of the department of Textile and Clothing of Niederrhein University, and Shamsul Alam, principal of NITTRAD, signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organizations.