US Ambassador to Bangladesh Dan Mozena has observed that Bangladesh’s apparel sector has underwent a massive transformation in the last one year to make it more compliant with global standards.
“Today is September 28, 2014 and think about what it was a year back, just three or four months after Rana Plaza disaster. It’s a night and day difference,” said Mozena while addressing a programme of Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh held yesterday at the National Press Club in the capital.
“Bangladesh, in my view, has made significant progress in moving forward with this transformation,” he reiterated.
The readymade garment sector in Bangladesh received international attention after the twin tragedies – a fire incident at Tazreen Fashions in 2012 and collapse of Rana Plaza – that killed over 1,200 people, mostly women.
Mozena, however, said still there are some areas where additional progresses are needed.
Stakeholders including the government, owners, workers and general supporters along with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) were working together to help the industry transform itself, he added.
The United States is the single biggest export destination for Bangladesh where exports marked over US$5bn.
He said a transformation of the apparel sector was much more important than that of the reinstatement of Generalised System of Preference (GSP) offered by the US.
Regarding energy exploration, the US envoy said many international oil companies, many of which from the US, were interested in exploring gas reserves in Bangladesh.
“You see a very broad international interest in exploring the Bay of Bengal area both offshore and onshore, which includes American companies as well,” he said.
About the price structure, he said: “Bangladesh can ask whatever it feels is best for its interests and the companies around the world would act on to that price structure.”
Bangladesh has recently resolved maritime delimitation dispute with India and Myanmar and it has more than 1,18,813 square kilometers of waters altogether comprising territorial sea, exclusive economic zone extending out to 200 nautical miles.
The ambassador, who has been working here for three years, identified infrastructure development, river erosion and governance as the biggest challenges for Bangladesh.
Apart from infrastructural development, power, energy, governance, red tapes, corruption, threat of political instability are also major challenges for the country, said Mozena. “All of these challenges have solutions,” he, however, added.
About corruption and governance, he said: “These are issues of commitment and when Bangladesh decides to address and resolve them then, that can be done as well.”
