Brands and buyers should be more responsible for ethical buying practices to make businesses sustainable, said speakers at recent a webinar in Bangladesh. They also advocated for mandatory government endorsement for future apparel contacts so that the textile suppliers and workers could resort to multilateral resolution if any brand declared itself bankrupt amid the virus fallout.

The webinar on COVID-19 fallout assessment on Bangladeshi ready-made sector was jointly organized by the France Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIFB) and the Policy Research Institute (PRI) of Bangladesh.

Dr Ahsan H Mansur, Executive Director, PRI was the keynote speaker, moderator and chair of the programme while Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen and Bangladesh Ambassador in France Kazi Imtiaz Hossain present were also present.

At the programme, Rubana Huq, President, BGMEA said that two French buyers Qamayu and Lahal had cancelled all orders in Bangladesh. However, other brands including Cellio were coming to negotiation gradually. Rubana said they were working with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) on ways of revising the contracts. She said the Bangladeshi exporters need to get back their position, but getting it back was not easy unless there was a fair purchasing practice in place. She said the buyers must understand a proper synchronization between sustainability and sourcing.

Mansur said the EU markets remain open for Bangladesh as they recover from COVID-19 while the USA market opens partly. But the demand of apparel may have shifted in both markets. He suggested diversifying products as the country mainly exports five items those contribute to about 73 percent of the total export. Dr Ahsan H Mansur also advised Bangladesh to develop a strong backward linkage industry to reduce the lead time – the time between the initiation and completion of a production process.