Country Report- Bangladesh- In Bursa Workshop

COUNTRY REPORT: BANGLADESH The People's Republic of Bangladesh is a country in south asia bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma (Myanmar) to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south. It has the world's longest natural sea beach Cox's Bazar (currently occupying 3rd rank in new 7 wonders of nature) as well as three world heritage sites e.g. ruins of a 7th century Buddhist monastery, historic mosque city of Bagerhat founded by the Turkish general Ulugh Khan Jahan in the 15th century and the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world. The name Bangladesh means 'Country of Bengal' in the official Bengali language. Until its birth in 1971 through a nine month long war of Independence, it was formerly known as East Pakistan. The country has a population of more than 160 million (90% muslim, 9% hindues; area 147,570 sq km) and is one of the world's most densely populated countries with a per capita income of about USD 500 but has made significant progress in human development in the areas of literacy, gender parity in schooling and reduction of population growth recently. Onshore and offshore gas as well as oil reserves hold out some chance of future prosperity. The government is a parliamentary democracy. Bangladesh is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, SAARC, BIMSTEC, the OIC, and the D-8. One prominent Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank have received the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize and he is recognized as anti-poverty banker throughout the world. Mr Yunus has founded the bank, which helps people out of poverty by giving them small, usually unsecured loans. Bangladesh has one of the largest textile and apparel industries in the world and relies on the textile and ready-made garment (RMG) sector for over 75% of its foreign earnings, current RMG export figure being around USD 12 billion roughly equally divided between woven and knit items. The textile and RMG contribute about 40% of industrial value addition and contribute about 14% to GDP and play a dominant role in the national economy by generating huge cliental base for banking, insurance, shipping, transport and related economic activities. Bangladesh has about three thousand textile mills and four thousand RMG units that provide direct employment to 5 million people of whom 80% are women. The country enjoys preferential trade regime with EU (GSP facility), Canada, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and duty free access of selected items to India, China, Pakistan etc. Availability of competitively priced labor, highly experienced RMG entrepreneurs and government policy support are some of the advantages of Bangladesh, while inadequate infrastructure and logistics support, shortage of skilled manpower and heavy dependence on imported basic raw materials act against our textile and RMG industries. Despite this complex scenario, the textile and RMG industries have maintained an average annual growth rate of 18% during the last 4 years (e.g., 45% growth in last 3 months of 2008 despite global financial crisis). For maintaining this high growth and to ensure sustaintability, one of the main criteria is to enhance productivity and quality of textile products by steady supply of highly educated and skilled manpower for the industry. Bangladesh government has set up 40 vocational textile institutes, 6 textile institutes offering 4-year diploma in textile engineering for technicians and 5 textile engineering colleges offering 4-year bachelor in textile engineering programs. In addition, there are about 7 privatefunded universities offering 4-year bachelor program in textile

engineering. More than 4,000 technicians and engineers are being enrolled each year in these institutes and universities. The education and training provided in such institutes and universities must meet the needs of the local textile industry and conform to international standards. Bangladesh Quality Support Programme (BQSP) is a EU-funded programme with the government of Bangladesh being implemented by UNIDO to support growth and poverty reduction through growth and diversification of exports in cooperation with four ministries and more than a dozen of public and private sector organizations. BQSP aims to bring quality standards and quality management in Bangladesh up to an international standard, and to increase awareness of international quality standards in the business community to support the development and diversification of exports. Problems faced by the textile industry include inadequate backward and forward linkages; low capacity utilization; absence of effective co-ordination between government agencies and the private sector; inadequate supply of skilled manpower; lack of facilities for training and human resource development; and insufficient facilities for development and dissemination of modern textile design & fashion. There is a shortage of skilled manpower and training due to nonavailability of qualified trainers in all areas but particularly in quality control and design. As recommended in the Bangladesh Textile Policy 1995, TIDC is being converted to the National Institute of Textile Training Research and Design (NITTRAD) as an autonomous institution under the Ministry of Textiles & Jute and has now been handed over to Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) with a governing body comprised of representatives from public and private sectors. This could be a model institute for publicprivate cooperation in human resource development for the textile industry in Bangladesh. It plans to provide skill development training to 2,000 trainees per annum and to introduce diploma and bachelor programs in textile engineering soon. The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers & Exporters Association (BGMEA) also has responded to the need for training by setting up the BGMEA Institute of Fashion & Technology (BIFT). It offers 4-year Honors program on Apparel Manufacturing Technology, Knitwear Manufacturing Technology, Fashion Design Technology and MBA in Apparel Manufacturing and Marketing in addition to its diploma and certificate courses. BIFT also provides training to socially disadvantaged people in remote northern areas with financial assistance from UNIDO/EU and provide jobs after completion of training. It has also established the Centre for Export and Product Development (CEPD), which aims to create new, diversified "Value Added" products in Bangladesh.

Dr Md Saifur Rahman Director, ASTAB, BQSP In associatıon with the following participants from Bangladesh Benjir Ahmed, President, BIFT Ali Ahmed, Chief Instructor, BITT Pabna Kazi Shamsur Rahman, Asst Professor, BIFT Md Abdur Rokib, Instructor, BITT Zorarganj Md Bakhtiar Hossain, Instructor, BITT Pabna