The progress of the new Bangladesh lies in building a sustainable economy, while a competitive economy and politics must be restored to attain that goal, said Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, convenor of the Citizen's Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh on Tuesday.
In a discussion titled “National SDG Report (VNR) 2025: Perspective of Business Leaders,” he also commented that entrepreneurs and honest institutions are needed to create a competitive market system.
“We have seen that countrywide chambers of commerce did not fulfill their responsibilities properly. At that time, there were no elections within the country, and there were no elections within these institutions either. Without elections or competition, there will be no sustainable development -- this must not happen. At the same time, those who were in leadership positions of those institutions committed corruption but talked about sustainable development.”
The association leaders' support for the undemocratic government and their own ascendance as community leaders without a fair election made the trade bodies' sustainability talks hollow, he added.
“To further expand the sustainable model, the investment climate in Bangladesh needs to be further improved, and government support needs to be increased. In this regard, issues such as financing problems, energy supply, regulatory harassment, and labor conditions need to be addressed,” economists suggest.
However, Debapriya, also said that sustainable business models should not be limited to exporters but rather be embraced across the value chain.
To adopt sustainable business models, the private sector needs an improved investment climate where their issues, including financing, energy, logistics, labor, technology, policy, and regulatory harassment, will be resolved.”
“Sustainability and corporate social responsibility are different,” he said, stressing the need for good practices in the private sector.
Greenwashing
"Greenwashing" -- a malpractice of cashing in on sustainable business models often happens, the economist said.
For a national success in sustainability, he stressed three factors together—investment, mapping and monitoring, and policy alignment.
In Bangladesh, the spread of sustainability and its achievements are not sufficiently recognized. In many cases, we have not been able to highlight it to the world and to the government's policymakers. As a result, its business achievements have also remained very limited.
Again, if there is no suitable business environment for the private sector, sustainable business models will not be created.
An introductory speech was delivered by Tarannum Jinan, Network Focal Point, Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh.
The event was moderated by Core Group Member, Citizen’s Platform and Distinguished Fellow of CPD, Mustafizur Rahman.
Mustafizur said: “To achieve the SDG targets, both the public and private sectors must work together. The private sector has a major role to play in this regard. It can be said that achieving the SDGs is not possible without the development of the private sector.”
There are about 10 million manufacturing companies in the country. Only the readymade garment (RMG) sector is giving priority to sustainable growth. Apart from RMG, many other sectors have opportunities to move towards sustainable production. In this regard, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) also need to be aware, he added.