The Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) president Mr. Faruque Hasan along with Director Abdullah Hi Rakib recently met with Paul Draffin, Chief Supply Chain officer at Canadian Tire Corporation in Toronto, Canada. Amongst others, Kimi Walker – Associate Vice President, Product Stewardship and Eddy Kong – General Manager, Asia from Canadian Tire Corporation was also present in the meeting.
During the meeting the BGMEA president urged Canadian importers to increase the volume of their sourcing out of Bangladesh as the country has become a safe, sustainable and ethical apparel manufacturing hub in the world.
Canadian Tire Corporation Limited is a renowned retail company in Canada with 1700 retail locations.
During the meeting, possible business opportunities for Bangladesh in Canadian Market was discussed. Highlighting the tremendous progress of Bangladesh’s RMG in terms of workplace safety, sustainability, and ethical manufacturing, Mr. Faruque Hasan said Bangladesh will continue to be the world’s preferred destination for apparel sourcing.
He urged brands and retailers of Canada to strengthen partnership with their Bangladeshi suppliers to build their capabilities in apparel products which have high demand in the Canadian market.
Bangladesh have exported apparels with total value of US$865.17MN to Canada in 2020, which saw a negative growth of -22.39% making it the 10th largest destination of apparels manufactured in Bangladesh with USA being the number one.
BGMEA President Meets the High Commissioner of Bangladesh to Canada
On a different occasion, Mr. Faruque Hasan paid a courtesy call on high Commissioner of Bangladesh to Canada Dr. Khalilur Rahman in Ottawa on September 14.
Faruque Hasan briefed the envoy about the present situation of the RMG industry, especially how the industry has been turning around following the unprecedented disruption caused by the Covid-19 and the challenges of the recovery process.
He also shared the future priorities of the apparel industry including diversification of products, especially increased focus on non-cotton and high-end product segment, market diversification and innovation in product development and process optimization.
The BGMEA president requested support from the High Commissioner in increasing the share of RMG exports in the potential market like Canada, especially in the area of high-end and diversified apparel products.
He also requested the envoy to projects the positive stories of Bangladesh’s apparel industry especially the sector’s remarkable progress in the areas of workplace safety, social, and environmental sustainability and worker’s wellbeing.
He laid emphasis on the efforts and the role of the High Commission in Canada in securing continuation of trade benefit for Bangladesh for 12 years after the graduation from the least developed country (LCD) category in 2026.
Faruque Hassan also requested cooperation from Dr. Khalilur Rahman in finding avenues to engage NRBs living in Canada in the development of Bangladesh’s economy.
BGMEA Director Abdullah Hil Rakib was also present on the occasion.
Source: BGMEA
