Sammilita Parishad pledges to revive exports

Reviving apparel exports, brightening the image of the industry and improving owner-worker relations are the key electoral promises the Sammilita Parishad has made for the biennial election of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).

Faruque Hassan, leader of the platform, announced the manifesto at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka last week.

"Our main target is to revive export earnings from garment shipment as we have lost our business because of the fallouts of Covid-19," he told The Daily Star.

Earnings from the garment shipment declined to more than $27 billion in the last fiscal year compared to $34 billion a year ago because of the massive drop in sales in the Western markets. According to Hassan, 2021 and 2022 would be challenging for the industry as many owners suffered in the last one year.

If voted to power, the Sammilita Parishad will try to address the challenges by establishing relations with government, buyers, diplomats and policy-makers, Hassan said.

The former BGMEA vice-president will propose the government extend the repayment period for the stimulus loans from the current 18 months and reduce the size of instalments.

The platform will urge the government to take short, medium and long-term initiatives to recover from the crisis after identifying and assessing the impacts of Covid-19 on the garment industry. 

It will seek short, medium and long-term policy support.

Hassan said it would suggest raising the export ceiling for SMEs from $5 million to $10 million to help more industries qualify for the loans under the stimulus packages. It will work with the government to have the definition of SMEs updated to avail loans at a 4 per cent to 5 per cent interest rate from the central bank's refinancing scheme.

The manifesto promised to introduce special insurance for export-oriented garment factories to ensure payment guarantee with buyer's bank against orders and train the workers of SME factories as most of them don't have any such facilities.

As part of an exit policy, the platform will work for the appointment of a government-approved liquidator agent and completing trials in the money loan court within three months.

The Parishad said it would hold talks with the government and the European Union so that Bangladesh can continue to enjoy duty-free access to the market until 2031, even after the graduation from the category of the least-developed countries in 2026.

It will form a task force involving the BGMEA and the ministries concerned to carry out official discussions with the EU for the continuation of the market access and secure GSP Plus status.

It will call for simplifying re-export procedures and propose necessary amendments to the policy through discussions with the customs department and other government agencies, Hassan said.

The entrepreneur pledged to work to bring changes to the mandatory wage revision of workers every five years.