Despite the success of our RMG industry, a number of bottlenecks -- both local and international -- have prevented the sector from truly stepping into the future. Chief among them are the structural flaws that have become endemic to the industry as a whole.
Thankfully, there has been a recent trend of progressive reforms across the industry which have aimed to address these issues. In keeping with this trend, three new RMG industrial units in Bangladesh have received leadership in energy and environmental design certificates from the US.
Our RMG sector is chiefly dependent on exports. Due to a number of high profile, fatal catastrophes in the last decade, however, our export prospects have taken a hit. Most of our buyers are based in Europe and the US, and following incidents like the Rana Plaza tragedy, a number of them have opted to boycott our products. However, some have sought to exploit these tragedies in order to delay or forgo payments for goods that had been already shipped.
With the reform of our RMG industry, however, we are at least addressing the local cause of these issues. The number of fatal catastrophes has significantly lowered in the last couple of years, with more and more factories opting for structurally sound, internationally accredited facilities. A number of them have even opted for going green in a bid to be more environmentally sound.
However, initiatives such as this do not come cheap. It would be foolish to expect such a trend to continue if buyers don't keep their end of the bargain. Above all else, buyers are not only hurting the RMG industry as a whole through foregone payments, but the workers as well.
This is simply unacceptable.
Buyers need to wake up to the reality of the situation and start honoring their contracts. The authorities need to team up with their foreign counterparts to facilitate the payment of these contracts, if necessary.
We have done our part. It is now time for buyers to follow suit.
