In view of increased expenditure towards enhanced wages and safety standards, the commerce minister of Bangladesh, Tofail Ahmed has sought higher price for Bangladeshi readymade garment (RMG) products in the global market. The prices of RMG products are not being increased though a lot of progress has been made towards safety, security and wages, he says.

Ahmed was speaking at a press conference attended by his countrymen and Dutch officials. He further said that the expenditures on the heads of workers’ wages and factory renovations cost a lot to the RMG unit owners while they were not getting the expected return against their increased investments. Though the minimum wages are $70 for RMG workers, but no one gets less than $120 that includes their monthly overtime in Bangladesh.

Ahmed observed that the current situation in the country was absolutely normal as the government handled militant activities successfully keeping trade and investment unhurt. Referring to uninterrupted inflow of foreign friends, the commerce minister said that Bangladesh was happy that friend of the country from all over the world were trooping in.

Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Lilianne Ploumen urged all the stakeholders in global apparel supply chain to make sure that profits are divided fairly and transparently with decent prices for products. She laid emphasis on more transparency in the whole value chain as it was one of the issues that they tried to address in the conference.

Ploumen appreciated the progress made by Bangladesh RMG so far. She, however acknowledged that RMG product prices have not been increased despite factories invested a lot as part of transformation of the sector. Responding to a question, the Dutch minister said there should be decent salaries for the workers and all need to talk to each other and all partners have equal responsibility to make the sourcing sustainable and profitable.