Garment manufacturers of Bangladesh have sought cooperation from the Commonwealth countries to recover damages that the supply chain disruption caused subsequent to the global outbreak of the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
The apparel exporters came up with this observation while taking part in a Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council-organised virtual event, ‘CWEIC Sector Webinar: Textiles and the Garment Industry’.
Taking part in the discussion, President of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), Dr. Rubana Huq maintained that only around eight states of the Commonwealth sourced products worth US $ 10 billion from Bangladesh naturally whereas the overall import of apparel items by the Commonwealth countries combined, from around the world, stands over US $ 51 billion.
The BGMEA President further went on to add that the outbreak of the pandemic had a disastrous impact on the apparel manufacturing sector of Bangladesh amidst large-scale order cancellations by the global buyers with buyers from the United Kingdom alone accounting for around US $ 526 million-worth of cancelled orders.
It may be mentioned here that there are 54 countries in the Commonwealth, in Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Pacific, amongst which are countries like the UK, that are major export destinations for ‘Made in Bangladesh’ apparel products.
The BGMEA President also underlined that around 4.1 million workers who are dependent on the RMG sector were directly affected by the disruption.
“The disruption was global…As we move forward, it is important to work and collaborate to recover from this unprecedented crisis,” maintained Vice-President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Md. Siddiqur Rahman, on his part, participating in the discussion while seeking support and cooperation amongst Commonwealth nations like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to recover from the devastating impact of the pandemic.
The speakers also underlined that CWEIC should be proactive to recover from this unprecedented crisis.
