Calling for unified efforts from all stakeholders to ensure good governance in the garment industry, which is the largest exporting industry of Bangladesh, Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has termed the progress made in the different areas of the apparel sector, including safety improvements, as “revolutionary”.
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“Revolutionary progress has been made in the safety systems in the country’s RMG industry. There has been remarkable improvement in the safety infrastructure. These progresses deserve praise from home and abroad,” maintained TIB Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman at a press conference in Dhaka while launching a report titled ‘Good Governance in the Ready-made Garments Sector: Achievements, Challenges and Way Forward’, recently, adding, “The safety standards of the RMG sector has reached a level we can be proud of and it needs to be retained.”
According to the study carried out by TIB, of the 102 measures taken for ensuring good governance in the RMG sector since 2013 till 2016, 41 per cent of the initiatives taken to improve the safety standards in the RMG sector had been fully implemented. While 36 per cent had made satisfactory progress, 10 per cent were slow in picking up and 13 per cent of the plans were stagnant. It further stated that progress was significant in factories that were members of BGMEA or BKMEA. However, about 700 factories that were not members of either of the trade bodies, the report underlined that technical and financial support from the Government was needed to enable those meet the compliance standards.
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The study also proposed a set of recommendations to address the challenges of the RMG sector, including forming a separate ministry for RMG sector, taking steps to ensure technical compliance in factories which are not the members of BGMEA or BKMEA, accelerating the formation of workers’ welfare fund, and bringing the perpetrators of the Rana Plaza disaster to justice under the Speedy Trial Tribunal.
Bharat Tex Special Report 2026 
