The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) yesterday termed market access of LDCs goods as 'crucial' for their economic security.

It urged the developed nations, including the USA, to provide duty-free access of textiles and apparel items from all Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to their markets.

The BGMEA said the export-oriented textile and apparel industries have created jobs for millions of people in the LDCs, including Bangladesh.

"So, these industries are crucial for economic security and poverty alleviation there," said a BGMEA press release yesterday.

"The industries and workers earnestly expect an immediate duty- and quota-free access of textiles and apparel items to the markets of the developed nations, including the USA," said BGMEA president Anwar ul Alam Chowdhury Parvez while leaving here to attend the WTO mini-ministerial meeting in Geneva.

Parvez said if developed countries truly want economic development of the LDCs, they must support and protect labour intensive textile industries.