Bangladesh Conference June 2008

Sustainable Competitiveness in the RMG Sector: 28 - 29th June 2008

On June 28th - 29th 2008 the MFA Forum with the Multi-stakeholder Forum Bangladesh (MFB) hosted a two-day knowledge-sharing meeting with key stakeholders in the Bangladesh RMG industry to review the progress since the second Forum for the Future conference in May 2006.

The event was by invitation-only and held in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It brought together international buyers, local producers, trade unions, civil society organizations, industry associations, and government representatives. The first day began with a bilateral meeting between the representatives of the MFA Forum and the MFB to review progress to date, including the Social Compliance and Productivity capacity programme and the state of emergency with regard to the labour unions. Directly following the bilateral meeting was the first of three working groups. The three working groups were on purchasing practices, labour conditions facing workers and macro-economic conditions facing the industry.

The three working groups were followed by a roundtable discussion identifying key issues coming out of each of the working groups and where participants found consensus and where the industry needed to continue to work together to move toward a plan for responsible competitiveness.

The collective next steps agreed during the meetings and roundtable discussion were as follows:

• The MFB will submit a proposal for a pilot project based on the work of Social Compliance and Productivity Capacity Programme to the MFA Forum buyers group.
• A recommendations from the purchasing practices working group will be brought to next MFB and MFAF meeting to identify and agree on next steps.
• Joint press statement will be agreed and released by both MFAF and MFB.
• The MFA Forum will request an urgent review of wages with request that buyers review price/purchasing practices.
• The MFB will share the macro-economic presentation with the MFA Forum for circulation on the website.
• The MFB to work on obtaining consistent representation by the government of Bangladesh at the MFA Forum/MFB convenings.
• The MFA Forum will ask brands to share product enhancement ideas at next meeting (along with other agenda ideas).
   

Conference Documentation