UNDP & BGMEA pledge to continue collaboration on sustainable growth goals

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have decided to continue collaboration in the area of sustainable development goals (SDGs) reporting by the readymade garment (RMG) sector in the country.

A UNDP delegation headed by Khurshid Alam, Assistant Resident Representative, met with BGMEA President Faruque Hassan at the latter’s office Thursday and discussed the overall sustainability agendas of the association and pledged to ascertain the sector's impact on SDG achievements.

Earlier, UNDP and BGMEA, in association with the Principal Coordinator of SDG Affairs, Prime Minister’s Office, and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) launched a report on Bangladesh National Priority Indicators and Sustainable Development Goals.

The report highlights the sustainability initiatives of 47 BGMEA member factories, which conducted sustainability self-reporting translating their impact into the language of NPIs and SDGs.

BGMEA President Faruque expressed his keen interest on continuing with the collaboration in the area of SDGs reporting in the RMG sector. They also discussed on developing a strategy for disaster resilient supply chain under the National Resilience Program (NRP).

NRP is a partnership between Bangladesh government, UNDP, UN Women, and United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) that aims at providing strategic support to develop national capacity to keep pace with the changing nature of disasters.

BGMEA Vice President Miran Ali and Director Abdullah Hil Rakib were also present at the meeting.

The UNDP delegation included Sarder M Asaduzzaman, Head of Programme Management and Partnership Support, Arif Abdullah Khan, Programme Specialist - Disaster and Resilience, and Linda Germanis, Private Sector Engagement Specialist.