Bangladesh: An Introduction
In 2004, predictions for the garment and textiles industry in Bangladesh were dire, showing the country having severe vulnerability due the industry's abnormally low wages, non-compliance with labour standards, shifting investment, poor infrastructure, and corruption. So far, however, the Bangladesh industry has not only survived the end of the Multi Fiber Agreement, in the current trend, the industry is enjoying increasing purchase orders from international buyers. The MFA Forum's concern for the RMG industry now and in the future is that increasing orders should lead to greater benefits for workers and society as a whole, not only for the manufacturers and buyers.
Since 2005, the MFA Forum has aimed to bring key international and national stakeholders together under the guidance of the Collaborative Framework. The MFA Forum recognizes that working with the industry in this way provides an important opportunity to build the future competitiveness and social standards of this industry and that all efforts should aim toward 'home-owned' and 'home grown' solutions.
The MFA Forum has been working with the Bangladesh RMG sector since our first international conference held in partnership with the United Nations Development Program on June 27th - 28th 2005. The conference titled "Forum for the Future: An Internationally Competitive Textile and Garment Industry" was held in Dhaka and attracted around 150 delegates including the Ministry of Commerce, suppliers, civil society, buyers and the industry trade associations.
In September 2005, the MFA Forum convened a buyers group to fulfill commitments made at the Forum for the Future conference, and this group continues to work together to explore their role in ensuring compliance with international labour standards and the competitiveness of the industry over the long term. On May 1st - 3rd 2006, a follow-up conference 'Forum for the Future II' was held and marked the agreement and establishment of the Multi-stakeholder Forum Bangladesh (MFB) which is the national-led multi-stakeholder group convening to work together to agree a sustainable strategy to stabilize and grow the industry in the face of significant challenges.
Most recently, the MFA Forum, in collaboration with the MFB, held a roundtable conference entitled 'Sustainable Competitiveness' in Dhaka on 28th - 29th June 2008. The roundtable was a two-day knowledge-sharing meeting that reviewed progress since the Forum for the Future II conference in May 2006.
The MFA Forum continues to work with the Bangladesh stakeholders and with the MFB to promote and support a responsible competitiveness programme for the country. It is our firm belief that the advice and expertise of all of these participants is essential to finding practical, sustainable solutions in an effort to ensure a stable market with mature industrial relations, where the industry can develop, buyers can source with out risk and where workers can benefit from a growing industry.