The European Union (EU) and Bangladesh should work together to impress the international companies, including the European ones, to adequately contribute to the compensation fund for the Rana Plaza victims, said Dutch foreign trade minister yesterday.
Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation of the Netherlands Lilianne Ploumen also appreciated Bangladesh for the steps taken so far to improve the working conditions in the massive RMG sector.
“We are encouraged to see the huge steps taken in the last one year to improve the working conditions in Bangladesh’s RMG sector, but there is still some way to go,” she said during her meeting with Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali at the Dutch Foreign Ministry in the morning.
She expressed her interest in further discussing the exact modalities for cooperation in this regard during her scheduled visit to Bangladesh in the end of May this year, said a Foreign Ministry media release.
Ploumen, who had visited Bangladesh following the Rana Plaza tragedy in June last year, said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government did the right thing to press ahead with necessary reforms in the RMG sector to improve labour rights and safety.
The Dutch minister particularly acknowledged the raise in minimum wage in the RMG sector which she considered to be a positive step forward.
The two ministers discussed the need for creating necessary comfort level for the RMG industry about the factory inspections being carried out to ensure safety standards.
They agreed that the RMG sector needs to be made sustainable and resilient in the larger interest of Bangladesh’s poverty alleviation efforts and economic development.