BGMEA stresses regional cooperation for inclusive development

BGMEA president Faruque Hassan has underscored the importance of regional value chain and collaboration within Asia in the textile and apparel sector to derive more mutual benefits.

“If we, the neighboring countries, can complement each other, we have huge opportunities to grow together,” he said while addressing the 13th edition of the International Conference on Textiles and Apparel held on Thursday virtually.

Bangladesh is pursuing a higher growth vision through diversifying textile material from cotton to non-cotton where the aim is to take a turn from quantity to quality, from volume to value, observed Faruque.

“Since our priority is to diversify from cotton to non-cotton items, Bangladesh can be a good market for Indian MMF textiles. And the more we can grow in apparel exports, the more opportunities will be created for trading with India, especially for textiles, dyes, chemical and machineries,” he made the assertion.

The BGMEA boss invited investors and businessmen from India and other countries in Asia to explore the investment opportunities in Bangladesh’s non-cotton textile industry, emphasising the need for exchange of knowledge, expertise and technologies within the region for sustainable and inclusive growth and development.

“We have established a university named BGMEA University of Fashion & Technology in 2000 and are also going to set up a Centre of Innovation to facilitate knowledge in the industry,” Faruque told the conference.

“A collaboration between these institutes and the fashion academies in India would be another important area where we can complement each other.”

Darshana Vikram Jardosh, Minister of State for Textiles, Ministry of Textiles, India; Dilip Gaur, Chairman, CII National Committee on Textiles and Apparel; Kulin Lalbhai, Co-Chairman, CII National Committee on Textiles and Apparel; Suchira Surendranath, Director – Strategy and Investment Branding Lanka Ltd Group, and Abhimanya Munjal, Chairman, CII (Norther Region) attended the conference organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) virtually.