Protect RMG sector from 'conspiracy'

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday urged garment manufacturers and workers to work together to protect the garment sector from any conspiracy.
"Garment owners and workers have to maintain good relations. You have to look into the advantages and disadvantages of each other. The government is always ready to provide you with all necessary support," she said.
Hasina made the remarks while inaugurating this year's Bangladesh Textile Exposition (Batexpo-2013) at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in the capital.
She assured garment owners of considering their demands for reducing free on board (FOB) and bank interest rate, and providing tax facility to industries at a new garment village in Munshiganj.
She said the newly constituted wage board for wage hike of the garment workers was working.
"We hope the board will give its recommendations soon. Then we will take a final decision about the volume of the wage hike," she added.
Hasina said a vested quarter was out to create obstacles in women's development and wanted to disrupt the progress of the garment sector on so many pretexts.
The government, workers and owners of industries should remain united to foil their evil design and enhance productivity, she told her audience.
Pointing to the recent occurrences in the country's garment sector, the premier said industrial accident was one of the big challenges for all industries across the world.
There was no alternative to taking preventive measures to face the challenge and keep the losses at a minimum level, she said.
Hasina urged the garment manufacturers to be sincere in applying modern technology for improving quality and production management to the highest level.
At the function, she paid her rich tributes to the garments workers who died in the recent fire and building collapse incidents.
She also extended her sympathy to the injured workers and prayed for their early recovery.
The premier said the present government had formulated an industrial policy giving priority to the private sector. Incentives were being provided for new export items and new markets.
"Mongla Port has been opened and Container Terminal Management System was introduced for modernisation of Chittagong port," she told the function, organised by BGMEA.
Hasina also distributed Frontier Award and Young Entrepreneurs Awards among the members of Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).
Textiles and Jute Minister Abdul Latif Siddiqui, LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Syed Ashraful Islam, Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan, BGMEA President Atiqul Islam, among others, were present.