Bangladesh’s image has taken a battering after the Rana building collapse as it is a poor country, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed has said.
He said on Tuesday that when the factory building collapsed in Bangladesh in Apr last year, “a very serious accident in a fertiliser factory in Texas (US) had killed some 100 people, but nobody talked about that”.“But all are talking about our accident because we are a poor country, we are a developing country, we are a LDC,” he said, hastening to add that “our image is better than that of many other countries”.
The minister was speaking at a “business lunch” of the Bangladesh German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BGCCI), the biggest bilateral chamber in Bangladesh.
The Rana Plaza collapse killed more than 1,100 people, mostly garment workers, and jolted Bangladesh’s main export industry, readymade garments.
German embassy’s Charge d’Affaires Ferdinand von Weyhe said Bangladesh would face lot of international press in the coming days marking the one year of the Rana Plaza collapse.
He said everyone would ask what Bangladesh had done to improve the factory situation after that grave disaster.
He said those questions would need immediate answers to brighten Bangladesh’s image in Europe.
Tragedies can happen in factories anywhere, he said, “but I think the challenge is how business and the government react afterwards”.
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) President Atikul Islam said Rana Plaza was a major disaster from which a lot had been learnt.
“It was a big lesson for us. But we need time,” he said. “Things are changing”.
“We have increased salaries by more than 200 percent in the last four years,” he said, and that all the factories would be inspected by Sep 30.
“We are first-generation businessmen in Bangladesh; our second generation will make state-of-the-art garments,” he said.
BGCCI President Shakhawat Abu Khair endorsed the BGMEA President’s observation.
“We had no idea, we had no information, we had no technical background when we started.
“But I would resist saying its criminal on anyone’s part to do things without knowledge,” he said. He added that the BGCCI had always tried to brighten Bangladesh’s image outside.
Germany is the second largest export destination for Bangladesh after the US with a bilateral trade volume of over $4 billion.
The Commerce Minister, however, said steps had been taken to prevent such disasters with the government implementing an action plan prepared by the US and the European Union.
“We are now interested in drawing foreign direct investments,” he said.
“Bangladesh’s people know how to face challenges,” he said, pointing out that exports had exceeded target by three percent last year despite relentless political unrest.
He attributed this achievement to the dynamism of the country’s business people.
“They have suffered but they had sent their products to different destinations of the world…our business communities are very dynamic.
“They will be able to build the image of Bangladesh,” the minister said. – bdnews24.com
