 A high level delegation consisting of five members led by Mr. Abu Sayeed Chowdhury, Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, Government of Bangladesh (GOB), Mr. Md. Rezaul Karim Ansari, Chairman, Bangladesh Finished Leather, Leathergoods and Footwear Exporters' Association (BFLLFEA), Mr. Md. Saiful Islam,President,
Leathergoods and Footwear Manufacturers' and Exporters' Association of Bangladesh (LFMEAB), Ms. Ishrat Jahan, Programme Manager, Leather Sector Business Promotion Council (LSBPC), Ministry of Commerce, GOB and Mr. Mohammad Abdul Maleque, National Consultant & CEO, Bangladesh Leather Service Centre (BLSC) visited the Footwear Design & Development Institute (FDDI) on September 3 & 4, 2009.
The Bangladesh leather industry is well established and is an important foreign exchange earner which developed on a large-scale basis from the 1970s. Hides and skins produced in the country enjoy a good reputation worldwide for their quality. The current contribution to global output from Bangladesh is over 200 million sqft of leather.
During the visit of the delegation, Mr. Rajeev Lakhara, IRS, Managing Director, FDDI, Mr. Deepak Kumar, IRS, Executive Director, FDDI and Mr. Shashi Bhushan Shukla, IRS, Secretary, FDDI were present.
The delegation visited FDDI seeking technical assistance/
collaboration to enhance industrial performance through technology, capacity building for market access and global/local value chains in footwear and leather products designing and development.
According to Mr. Rajeev Lakhara, IRS, Managing Director, FDDI,
“The purpose of the visit of this delegation was to replicate best practices and appropriate technology with assistance/ collaboration from FDDI so as to enable the Bangladesh Leather Industry to become a "one stop shop" for technology and industrial development.”
The delegation gave a presentation & had a long discussion with the Managing Director. The delegation discussed in length about the technical assistance/collaboration from FDDI.
The Managing Director assured the delegation of full support in enhancing the competitiveness of the leather sector and accelerate growth through expanded trade and access to the international markets.
The delegation were highly impressed after visiting the International Testing Center of FDDI which has full-fledged Chemical and Physical Laboratories, where all kinds of chemical and physical tests like AZO, PCP; Formaldehyde etc. are performed
within strict time schedules. The delegation also saw in brief, the specific tests with respect to PCP, PCB, BOD, COD, TOC, H-CHO, Hexavallent Chromium. They also visited the pilot plant, library, classrooms, computer center etc.
FDDI will help the Bangladesh Leather Industry in the following areas:
- Consultancy for setting up of factories/ plants;
- Consultancy for setting up of laboratories;
- Consultancy for upgradation of laboratories;
- Consultancy for productivity and benchmarking.
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