Dhaka: Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu on Wednesday said there is a global ‘conspiracy’ against Bangladesh RMG industry by its competitors due to its potential to excel its competitors but it keeps growing.

‘Despite the international conspiracy against our RMG industry, this sector maintains a steady growth and now Bangladesh has emerged as the largest exporter of garments in South and South-East Asia,’ he said.

While addressing a function in Dhaka, Amu said the sector will continue to grow amidst all these setbacks because of the efforts of innovative entrepreneurs and the appropriate policy support from the government.

He said global competitors have been instigated in putting in more efforts to defame Bangladesh after the Rana Plaza collapse and the fire incident in Tazreen Fashions.

After these two incidents, Accord and Alliance have set some conditions, which have to be met, by the factories, in order to receive purchase orders from abroad.

Amu said the GSP facilities of Bangladesh have also been cancelled due to different reasons, including workers’ safety.

BGMEA has been working in close collaboration with foreign buyers, in order to stabilise the situation and restore the GSP facilities.

The industries minister said there is an increasing need to forge profitable partnership with global suppliers of cotton, yarn and fabrics to maintain the consistent and enormous growth of the country’ s apparel industry.

The US$ 28 billion-plus garment industry can achieve a two-fold increase in export in the next three to five years, he said.

Amu was addressing as the chief guest at the inaugural ceremony of the ‘17th Textech Bangladesh International Expo 2016’ with concurrent exhibitions the ‘10th Dhaka International Yarn and Fabric Show 2016’ and ‘25th Dye+Chem Bangladesh Expo 2016’.

CEMS-Global USA and CEMS Bangladesh jointly organised the events, all under one roof.

State Minister for Textiles and Jute Mirza Azam, Deputy Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Dr Adarsh Swaika, FBCCI first vice president Md. Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, BGMEA President Md. Siddiqur Rahman and first vice president, BKMEA AH Aslam Sunny, among others, spoke at the programme held with President, CEMS-Global-USA and Asia-Pacific Meherun N Islam in the chair, according to an Industries Ministry handout.

The Industries Minister said textiles and readymade garment industries are vital sectors of Bangladesh economy.

Amu said Bangladesh has been witnessing a steady growth of apparel manufacturing and exports and has now emerged as the second largest apparel exporter in the world.

‘At present, we are working on celebrating the Golden Jubilee of the independence of Bangladesh with the target of earning US$ 50 billion from the apparel sector by the year 2021,’ he said adding that they are working towards establishing hi-tech factories with the latest technologies and equipment in order to attain this goal.