The first meeting of the joint working group (JWG) for cooperation in textiles sector between Bangladesh and India will be held here on Thursday, said an official.
Bangladesh and India signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in textiles sector in New Delhi in August last year.
Later, a JWC on textiles was formed as an institutional collaboration mechanism for speedy implementation of the MoU.
The JWC would work to develop collaborations between the textile institutions of the two countries such as the skill building institutions, fashion institutes and research institutions.During the first meeting of the JWC, the continuation of the mandate of the International Jute Study Group, established under the United
Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), whose term concludes in April 2014 would also be discussed, according to Indian High Commission in Dhaka.
The MoU on textiles sector collaboration, is a major trade facilitation mechanism and provides for collaboration in various areas such as fashion technology, skill exchange and productivity
enhancement; collaboration for upgrading and enhancing production efficiency, management techniques, technical collaboration in development of textiles.
Jute and Textiles formed more than 50 percent of Bangladesh’s exports of US$ 563.96 million to India in fiscal 2012-13.
While the overall growth in Bangladesh exports to India in the 2012-13 fiscal has been 13.15 percent when compared to 2011-12 fiscal, export of raw jute has grown by 17.5 percent from US$ 113.9 million to US$ 133.9 million, according to available data.
During the same period, export of jute goods has grown by 6.7 percent from US$ 73.3 million to US$ 78.2 million.
After the removal of duty and quota on readymade garments (RMG) in September 2011, Bangladesh exports of Woven and Knitwear RMG to India registered an increase by 53 percent in 2011-12 fiscal compared to 2010-11 fiscal.
In 2012-13 fiscal, exports in this sector have again grown by 36.7 percent. Thus the exports of Woven and Knitwear RMG have grown from
US$ 35.9 million in fiscal 2010-11 to US$ 75.20 million in 2012-13, registering a growth of 109.5 percent in a two-year period – UNB
