Letters to the editor
A separate ministry for the RMG sector
Sir,
There are many ministries in Bangladesh to look after different sectors. But the export-oriented readymade garments (RMG) sector which is a large and unwieldy one but happens to be one of the few pillars on which the countrys economy stands, is still not under the focused supervision of a ministry devoted entirely and befittingly to it. But the RMG sector specially deserves to be looked after exclusively by a separate ministry given the fact that it is facing serious adverse conditions from various internalities and externalities.
Presently, the problems of the export-oriented readymade garments (RMG) sector are looked into and responded by the Ministry of Industries. The RMG industries are but only a part of the concern of this ministry which has to give its attention to so many industrial sectors of the country. Understandably, therefore, the pivotal RMG sector that earns nearly 75 per cent of the countrys foreign currency from export and is the single biggest employer of industrial workers, cannot get the total and very dedicated attention of this ministry that it duly deserves.
The Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has been pleading for long to set up exclusively a separate ministry for the RMG sector. So far, this suggestion has gone unheeded although there is full merit in it. The RMG sector needs a full fledged ministry to work full time and exclusively for it. The establishment of such a new ministry would be very consistent with the very pressing need to hedge this very important economic sector of the country from pitfalls in the short, medium and long terms. Only a ministry devoted entirely to the upliftment of the RMG sector can attend to the many and often complex requirements and problems that need to be met and solved respectively in this sector.
Therefore, government needs to act upon the proposal for a separate ministry with a view to adopting it--immediately-- when the RMG sector appears to be in the throes of all kinds of troubles.
Amin Ahmed Chowdhury Gulshan, Dhaka
