Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today urged garment owners, manufacturers and workers to work together to protect the garment sector, reports BSS.
"Garment owners and workers need to maintain good relations. You have to look at each others’ advantage and disadvantages. The government is always ready to provide you all necessary support," she said.
Inaugurating this year's Bangladesh Textile Exposition (Batexpo 2013), the Prime Minister assured garment owners that the government would consider their demands for reducing the Fee on Board and bank interest rates, and for provides tax facilities to industries in the new garment village in Munshiganj.
Regarding the newly constituted wage board for the wage hike for garment workers, she said: "We hope the board will give its recommendation soon. Then we will make a final decision about the amount of wage hike," she said.
Minister for Textiles and Jute Abdul Latif Siddiqui, LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Syed Ashraful Islam, Commerce Minister Ghulam Mohammad Qader, Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Faruk Khan, Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan attended the function as the special guests at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel.
BGMEA president and chairman of Batexpo organizing committee Atiqul Islam, second vice president of BGMEA MA Mannan Kochi and acting first vice president of BGMEA Abdul Wahab, spoke, among others, on the occasion.
The prime minister also distributed the Frontier Award and the Young Entrepreneurs Awards among BGMEA members for their success in different categories including business promotion, compliance and the promotion of women’s entrepreneurship.
She also handed over awards to different individuals for corporate social responsibility and service for development of the garment sector and welfare of the garments workers.
Batexpo, organised by BGMEA, gives buyers, investors, partners and visitors from home and abroad the opportunity to learn about the wide range of apparels and textiles produced by Bangladesh, and provides a platform for local manufacturers to make lasting trade relations with international buyers.