All committed to ensuring workers' safety

All the stakeholders are committed to ensuring workers' safety and rights in the garment industry, and the European Union will continue in supporting Bangladesh for this, said Foreign Minister Dipu Moni.
After the Savar incident, the government, industry people and the workers reached to a tripartite agreement facilitated by the International Labour Organisation on the safety issues in the garment industry.
The minister spoke at a seminar on “Current situation in Bangladesh: potential and challenges” at the European Institute of Asian Studies (EIAS) in Brussels on Wednesday, the foreign ministry said in a statement yesterday.
Based in Brussels and Luxemburg, EIAS is a think-tank which focuses on EU-Asia relations to promote better understanding between the two regions.
Dick Gupwell, vice chairman of EIAS, presided over the event which was also addressed by Paulo Casaca, former member of the European parliament and a member of the Portuguese parliament.
Casaca also presented an introductory paper on Bangladesh in the seminar.
Dipu Moni elaborated various political, economic and social aspects of Bangladesh and the challenges that it faces for a better future.
Referring to the recent political developments, she said politics in Bangladesh should “uphold the aspired and noble values enshrined in Bangladesh constitution”.
She said Bangladesh has made a tremendous progress in social and economic sectors, as it posted a growth of 6 percent over a decade as the third largest economy of the South Asia.
It has been identified by various global assessments as the “next growth story”, according to the statement. The minister also spoke on election, political violence and war crimes tribunal.
Later, in the afternoon, the minister opened the Machine Readable Passport System in the Bangladesh embassy in Brussels.