Bangladesh requests EU not to impose severe conditions

04 May '13

2 min read

Bangladesh’s Ministry of Commerce has requested the European Union not to impose severe conditions that may impact readymade garment exports from Bangladesh.

In a three-page letter sent to William Hanna, EU Ambassador in Bangladesh, commerce secretary Mahbub Ahmed said Bangladesh’s garment workers would suffer the most if apparel exports to the EU decline due to any severe condition imposed by the EU in view of the recent factory building in collapse.

Rana Plaza, which housed five garment units, collapsed last month killing over 500 people, according to the latest media reports.

The letter says the Bangladesh Government has already taken several kinds of steps to prevent such disasters in future, Dhaka Tribune reported.

Earlier this week, in a joint statement, Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Commissioner for Trade Karel de Gucht said “As Bangladesh’s largest trade partner, the European Union is very concerned about the labour conditions, including health and safety provisions, established for workers in factories across the country.”

“The European Union calls upon the Bangladeshi authorities to act immediately to ensure that factories across the country comply with international labour standards including International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions,” the statement said.

“The EU is presently considering appropriate action, including through the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) – through which Bangladesh currently receives duty-free and quota-free access to the EU market under the ‘Everything But Arms’ scheme – in order to incentivise responsible management of supply chains involving developing countries,” the release added.

With more than 4,500 garment manufacturing units, Bangladesh is the second largest clothing exporter in the world, next only to China. Over 50 percent of Bangladeshi garment exports are destined to the European market.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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