After two foreign nationals were gunned down in Bangladesh, international retailers postponed their scheduled meeting with garment makers citing security fears in Dhaka recently.

Faruque Hassan, Vice-President, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association said that the buyers' forum meeting, a regular monthly discussion between the retailers and garment makers has been deferred.

International retail comprises about 90 per cent of the country’s $25 billion receipts from garment exports a year and representatives from 65 to 70 international retailers participate in the meeting. Just five days after an Italian aid worker was murdered in the capital's diplomatic zone a Japanese national was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Rangpur.

A major garment exporter said that one of his major US buyers asked him via email whether he should visit Bangladesh or not as two foreign nationals were killed. The garment exporter told him not to cancel the trip as the situation had not worsened. However, industry insiders fear a reduction, cancellation and shift of work orders to other countries. Some retailers have even moved the meeting to Hong Kong, Dubai, China, India and Thailand and asked the garment makers to visit them in there instead.

Shahidullah Azim, Managing Director, Classic Group, one of the leading garment exporters said that one of his American buyers cancelled his trip to Dhaka and that he rescheduled the meeting and asked Azim to go to Dubai to attend it. He added that this is the peak time to get work orders for the fall season in the western world and if retailers cannot go to Bangladesh during this important season, the garment makers will lose work orders again.

www.bgmea.com.bd