Various experts yesterday emphasised on increasing investments for developing human resources in the logistics and supply chain sector to ensure a competitive edge in dealing with the country's rising international trade.

Besides, a strong, skilled and professional freight forwarding industry is badly needed to promote and facilitate international trade as modern international trade involves complex interactions between people, firms and organisations, they said.

These comments came at an industry-academia collaboration conference, styled "An eye on vision-2041 of Freight Forwarding and Logistics Sector's Skill Development", organised by the Bangladesh Freight Forwarders Association (BAFFA) and USAID Feed the Future Bangladesh Trade Activity.

BAFFA President Kabir Ahmed chaired the event, held at the Radisson Blu Chattogram Bay View hotel.

Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, the state minister for shipping, was chief guest while Mohammad Shahajhan, chairman of the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA), was special guest.

In his welcome speech, Ahmed informed that BAFFA with support from USAID Feed the Future Bangladesh Trade Activity and in coordination with Chittagong Independent University is going to introduce a "Diploma in Logistics and Supply Chain Management" to help create a pool of qualified human resources for the logistics sector.

Prof Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh, said every sector of the country's economy has significant logistics components.

For example, 5 per cent of the footwear industry is logistics based, the lowest among all sectors, while the ratio is about 7 per cent for the garments industry.

Similarly, about 19 per cent of the pharmaceuticals sector is logistics based while the agriculture sector has the highest share of about 40 to 50 per cent.

"For rice milling, which is our daily staple, the logistic component is about 12 per cent. That means 12 per cent of what we pay for rice goes to logistics related costs and this percentage keeps going up," Mansur said.

So, managing the logistics costs through proper supply chain management is a vital component of ensuring competitiveness and affordable prices for the consumers, he added.

Quoting a recent study, BAFFA Vice President Amirul Islam said efficient logistics alone can boost Bangladesh's exports by 20 per cent.

He said logistics efficiency could not be attained in Bangladesh as of yet as the related policies are not congenial and compatible with international standards.

Prof Dr Mamun Habib of Independent University Bangladesh said the future generation of workers in the logistics sector need to have basic knowledge in supply chain management and academic institutions should play a role in this regard.

He stressed on the need for introducing short-term diploma courses on supply chain management covering all the related sectors, including logistics management, freight forwarding, warehouse management and inland container depot management.

Habib went on to say the duration of these courses should be between 4 to 6 months and the admission criteria should be kept flexible.

Marc Shiman, chief of USAID Feed the Future Bangladesh Trade Activity, Muhammad Sekandar Khan, vice chancellor of East Delta University, and Angshuman Mitra Mustafi, managing director of Maersk Bangladesh, also addressed the conference.

The event was attended by 230 participants from BAFFA, the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, academia and other relevant stakeholders.