Agency

Chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed Wednesday urged textile-sector leaders to take a coordinated work plan to survive in the severely competitive world market.

Speaking at the inauguration of the textile sector's biggest exhibition, Texbangla-2008, at Bangladesh China Friendship Conference Centre, the CA also called for necessary steps for the welfare of workers engaged in the industry.

"The government has given different incentives to encourage investment in the primary textile sector. The government is also providing all assistance for the sector in increasing the production and quality of textile industries," he said. The assistance will continue, Fakhruddin promised.

The sector is the second biggest after agriculture in terms of employment generation. "Mill owners will have to be more attentive to increasing efficiency and productivity making full use of facilities given by the government," he said. "We have to survive in the fiercely competitive world market."

Fakhruddin said: "Achieving adequate growth in the world market is not possible without steadily increasing efficiency and cutting production costs."

The CA predicted that different compliance conditions would also severely affect the textile sector in future. "So short-, mid- and long-term plans have to be taken now. New and modern technology has to be used steadily," he said.

Welfare of workers employed in the textile and garments sectors is very important," he said, referring to the growth of the industry. In mid-1980s, the number of workers in the readymade garments sector was only one lakh. Now 25 lakh workers—85 percent of them women—are employed in the industry.

One third of the total workforce in the industrial sector is now employed in the garments sector. The textile sector has been making significant contributions to economic growth for the last two and a half years, he said. "In the same period, export earnings by readymade garments grew.

The primary textile sector meets up to 90 percent of total demand for raw materials. As a result, the import of yarn has decreased and pressure on the foreign currency reserves has eased," Fakhruddin said. "However, proper coordination among all sub-sectors of the textile sector is necessary to face the multi-pronged challenges of the market economy," he said.

Bangladesh Textile Mills Association has organised the three-day exhibition, where finance adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam, textile adviser Anwarul Iqbal, commerce adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman and BTMA president Abdul Hai Sarker also spoke.

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