It's time to act now

US Ambassador Dan W Mozena said yesterday Bangladesh stood at a critical juncture and it had to make a choice between becoming a preferred brand or a tainted one.
If Bangladesh chose to be a preferred brand, he said, it had to ensure that workers' deaths in incidents like the Tazreen fire and Rana Plaza collapse never took place again and factory fire safety and soundness of the buildings were maintained.
Also, workers should be allowed to be free to form trade unions, Mozena added.
“Decisions need to be made now,” said Mozena at a business meeting organised by the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) at its office.
Representatives from Bangladesh and US businesses attended the meet.
The US envoy said the death of workers at Tazreen and Smart fashions at Rana Plaza are not accidents. “These are man-made events.”
The deaths have created huge reactions around the world and Bangladesh became headlines in the US and global media regularly, he added. Such reactions on this scale, he noted, he had not seen since 9/11.
Mozena said there was a tendency in Bangladesh to do a lot of things initially and later the issue was forgotten. But the tragedies at the two factories were not going to be forgotten. “This is not one of those moments.”
Darryl Knudsen, a representative from GAP, said all needed to work together and the retailer giant would do all it could to help.
He said the world was watching to see what Bangladesh's industry and government would do.
He said he had heard a lot of encouraging words and commitments about continuing on this trajectory. “Right now we are listening to the words. But in time we will want to see the results.”
MCCI President Rokia Afzal Rahman said all parties should come together and develop a pragmatic solution so that tragic incidents like Tazreen or Rana Plaza did not take place in future.
She said the country's steady economic growth drew domestic and foreign investments.
“It is also creating a new Bangladesh entrepreneurial class.” She said this new generation of entrepreneurs deserved full support in order to create avenues for a widening of trade.