Russia looks to Bangladesh for garment expertise

A file photo shows employees working at a garment factory. A Russian apparel company is going to start recruiting workers from Bangladesh for its factory in the next two months.Photo: STAR

Skilled Bangladeshi textile workers are being hired to work in Russia, further evidence of Bangladesh's growing status as a world leader in garment expertise.
Abdul Matin Chowdhury, secretary to the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment, said 60 skilled workers will go to Russia in the first batch within the next two months. More could soon follow, he added.
Although garment industry leaders have previously complained of a shortage of skilled labour in Bangladesh, yesterday they welcomed the Russian initiative as proof of the strong development and international competitiveness of the local garment sector.
The Russian company Visozstoy will initially employ the workers.
“I have already approved a local recruiting agency to select the manpower to export to Russia,” Matin Chowdhury said, adding that a ministry delegation will attend a forum on employment in Russia at the end of the month.
He said the workers will receive US$450 a month in wages and a package of benefits such as medical facilities and travel allowances.
Fazlul Hoque, president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), said although the country has been suffering from a skilled manpower shortage, the initiative is good.
“It is good that we are unlocking the potential to export garment workers as well as their products,” he said.
“However we should always be aware that nobody is being deprived by exporting RMG manpower,” Hoque added.
According to statistics there are more than 2.5 million skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled workers in the woven, knitwear and textile sectors.
Industry insiders said at present garment workers comprising 80 percent female workers are working in near 4500 woven factories, nearly 1700 knitwear factories and more than 1300 textile factories.
Hoque said Russia is also a potential RMG products' market for Bangladesh. Every year Russian buyers outsource a significant number of RMG products to Bangladesh, he said.
Talking to The Daily Star president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Anwar-Ul-Alam Chowdhury Parvez said the initiative is good, as the demand of RMG workers in Russia has been increasing.
Advising the government to continue a relentless effort to grab the Russian and other potential markets for RMG workers Parvez said the government should also continue training workers to make them skilled.
Market operators said remittances from expatriate Bangladeshis could exceed US$7.0 billion in 2008 as more and more local skilled and semi-skilled workers are going abroad for jobs.
According to official statistics, the country received nearly $6.0 billion in remittance from non-resident Bangladeshis last year and the contribution of the remittance to the gross domestic product crossed 13 percent.

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