American apparel association to work for Bangladesh’s GSP to US

The American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA) has agreed to work for the promotion of Bangladesh's garment sector so that the south Asian country can reinstate the generalised system of preferences status to the US market.

AAFA President and CEO Steve Lamar and Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) President Faruque Hassan signed a memorandum of understanding in this regard in Washington DC during the annual AAFA Executive Summit on March 10.

The two groups will explore opportunities and work together to increase trade access for Bangladesh to the US market, improve purchasing practices, build on the great work already done by the Bangladeshi industry on sustainability and expand the strong partnership between the US and Bangladeshi industry.

"Together, we aim to unlock potential of Bangladesh's RMG sector by enhancing competiveness through building capacities and embracing innovations and technologies and facilitating trade access to the US market," a statement of the BGMEA released today quoted Hassan as saying.

"We also aim to develop joint programmes that train workers and mid- and top- management, explore new corporate social responsibility initiatives to support the wellbeing of the workers and communities, and more."

"AAFA's comprehensive work ensures the continued success and growth of the global apparel and footwear industry, its suppliers, and its customers. With this in mind, agreements with strategic partners around the world help reduce trade barriers, encourage sharing of environment and social governance best practices and promote innovation on behalf of our members," said Lamar.

"Today's collaboration marks increased capacity building to support joint practices and trainings to advance supply chain sustainability, expand trade opportunities, improve the buyer-supplier partnership," Lamar also said.

As per the understanding, the AAFA will support Bangladesh in promoting its trade interests in the US market, especially advocating for the withdrawal of GSP suspension to recognise the progress made in the local industry in the area of workplace safety, workers wellbeing and environmental sustainability.

AAFA, a trusted public policy and political voice of the apparel and footwear industry, will also work closely with BGMEA to advocate for improved trade preferences and programs between the United States and Bangladesh.

Along with BGMEA, the AAFA, which represents more than 1,000 world famous brands, retailers and manufacturers, will pursue to improve the partnership between buyers and suppliers through responsible purchasing practices.

The two association will inspire buyers-supplier collaboration to upscale product development and innovation capability to explore untapped segments of the export market, via joint research, coaching programs, sharing of knowledge and information like fashion trend analysis and forecasting, matchmaking events and media campaign.

They will also work on creating joint scoping missions to explore bilateral investment opportunities, particularly in backward linkage textile industries in Bangladesh, especially in the non-cotton segment.

AAFA and BGMEA will collaborate to deepen discussion towards a unified code of conduct, or unified approach, for social and environmental audits in manufacturing facilities, via setting up of a joint committee with clear terms of engagement.

Earlier, the US government suspended the GSP status for Bangladesh on June 27 in 2013 citing the bad working environment in the garment factories and poor labour rights.

However, with the recommendations of the American government Bangladesh improved the workplace safety and amended the labour law and submitted the progress reports to the United States Trade Representative for reinstating the GSP status twice but it was not reinstated by the American government yet.