RMG stimulus likely this month

Commerce Minister Faruk Khan said yesterday a stimulus package for the garment sector is likely to be announced anytime this month.

Khan was speaking to reporters at the BGMEA Institute of Fashion and Technology (BIFT) at Uttara in Dhaka after the inauguration of the Centre of Export and Product Development (CEPD).

On September 16, ministries and stakeholders concerned held the second taskforce committee meeting on recession to decide on how to support the sector and offset the bad impacts of financial crisis worldwide.

Industry insiders complain a sub-committee that was supposed to be formed to report on such stimulus within a month as per the taskforce body decision is yet to come into being.

The minister spelt out the government's firmness to support the readymade garment industry, still the prime foreign exchange earner.

The human resource in the sector should come under garment owners' investment plans, besides production and exports, Khan suggested.

At the inauguration, Abdus Salam Murshedy, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), pointed out that the country is now largely dependent on foreign technical personnel to run factories and business.

"I hope BIFT will produce human resources according to global standards to fulfill the garment sector needs. Garment factory owners are also investing to train technical personnel now," Murshedy said.

David Lee, project manager of United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), said businessmen should develop different technical sides of the garment sector.

Initiatives jointly taken by BIFT and CEPD will help produce technical personnel to meet the current crisis in the garment sector, Lee added.

BIFT and UNIDO jointly set up CEPD on the BIFT campus to impart practical training to learners.