Discussion with banks' top brasses told

BGMEA President Anwar-Ul-Alam Chowdhury Parvez has suggested that bankers should not fear to invest in the garment sector as the flow of foreign buying orders to Bangladesh is increasing.

The suggestion came at a discussion with all the managing directors and high ups of both public and private commercial banks at the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) office in Dhaka yesterday.

"The bankers should feel confident and they should not adopt contractionary policy in sanctioning loans for the garment sector as Bangladesh expects new openings,” Parvez said.

Dwelling on the impact of global financial recession on the country's economy, Syed Manzur Elahi, former adviser to the caretaker government, the Chinese factories are now trying to relocate somewhere else, as those are facing closure.

"Bangladesh will not feel the pinch of global financial recession as orders are being shifting here from other competitive countries, especially from China," Elahi said.

Meanwhile, at a press conference in Dhaka, BKMEA (Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association) President Fazlul Hoque urged the local manufacturers and exporters to improve negotiation skills in fixing prices of apparels in the wake of continuous pressure from international buyers to keep the prices well below the standard.

Hoque said, "Sometime we are compelled to make a deal at a lower price. It is happening because we do not have negotiation skills and have an uneven competition in price fixation."

He said the BKMEA will try again in mid-January to revive the issue of fixing the baseline or minimum export price of knitwear items so that no buyer can pay less than the standard price.

The association's bid to fix such a price in last June could not succeed on srong oppostion from different quarters, according to the BKMEA chief.

Hoque said new openings emerged for the country due to the global financial recession as more and more orders are shifting from China to Bangladesh.

He said BKMEA is going to hold its first Knit+tex Expo Bangladesh 2008 from November 28 in Dhaka to showcase the latest technology in knitwear manufacturing.

From now on the knit+tex will be organised every year simultaneously with the knitexpo, Hoque said.

Hoque said the amount of investment in knitwear sector crossed US$2 billion and Tk 100 crore is being invested a year for the expansion of factories.

Meherun N. Islam, president and group managing director of Conference and Exhibition Management Services Ltd (CEMS), said the exhibition will continue until November 30.

She said 75 companies from home and abroad will participate in the exhibition at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre.

Chairman of the Regulatory Reforms Commission (RRC) Dr Akbar Ali Khan is scheduled to inaugurate the exhibition as the chief guest.