The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Dhaka

British High Commissioner in Dhaka Stephen Evans yesterday said social responsibility is now a vital component in international trade.

"It is not a luxury, it is a component for competitive trade," he said at the conference on 'National Social Responsibility Stakeholder Consultation Conference on ISO 26000' at the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) conference suite.

Evans said it makes smart business sense to respect labour rights, communities and the environment in an age when consumers and buyers expect their goods to have been produced sustainably.

He added: "Bangladesh can benefit from internationally standardized social responsibility requirements and practices. Therefore, BSTI's initiative is a positive one. And Bangladeshi companies can be helped to achieve them - ultimately giving a competitive edge internationally."

Bangladesh Enterprise Institute chairman Farooq Sobhan and Industries secretary Sheikh Enayetullah also addressed the conference, chaired by BSTI director general Md Azmal Hossain.

BSTI has finished compiling Bangladesh's overall response to the working draft of ISO26000 as the guideline on standards for social responsibility in 2010.

It has already consulted 170 social responsibility stakeholders in Bangladesh to compile their response to the guideline of social responsibility standard.

Stakeholders in areas such as mineral extraction, cement, agro-industry, food products, construction, textiles, garment, ceramics, as well as from NGOs, Universities and Government took part in the three-week consultation.

During the consultations, the participants mainly focused on seven themes for determining the country's response to the ISO26000 guidelines on social responsibility. The areas of focus were organisational governance, fair operating practices, human rights, labour practices, community involvement and development, the environment and consumer issues.

This international engagement (ISO 26000) will enhance the reputation of Bangladesh and enable Bangladesh to make a significant contribution to the proceedings of international Social Responsibility Development Conference in Santiago in September 2008.

More than 100 representatives of social responsibility stakeholders attended the daylong conference.