In the 12th national parliament elections, 17 entrepreneurs from the apparel industry have been chosen to serve as Members of Parliament. These individuals, having proven their expertise as skilled entrepreneurs for years, have now been selected to manage legislative positions in the Parliament. Awami League and Jatiya Party tickets were obtained by a few of them, while several contested as independent candidates in the election.
These businessmen from RMG and textile industry target to provide stable electricity and energy supply to the country’s apparel and textile industry as well as solve the ongoing dollar crunch, besides promoting trade-friendly fiscal policies.
Tipu Munshi, Commerce Minister of the past government, is one of the prominent winners to have got the ticket. In his last interview with Apparel Resources, he had said, “The garment industry’s growth has been the priority concern for the government and it will always remain the same.”
Kader Azad, popularly known as AK Azad, a well-known businessman, politician and industrialist from Bangladesh and the Founder of Ha-Meem Group, won as an independent candidate from Faridpur-3 (Sadar) constituency.
Upon his successful win at the election, Kader said, “We have many years of experience in the apparel sector and we constantly are and want to be at the forefront of its growth, both domestically and internationally. Our priority is to strengthen cotton production in addition to raising output to better support the apparel industry. Looking ahead at 2030, we have a target to reach US $ 100 billion in garment exports. Our request to the government will therefore be to ensure constant electricity supply. If this works well, it will be easier for us to move forward smoothly.”
Dewan Zahid Ahmed Tulu, Director of Axis Knitwears Ltd., who defeated popular singer Momtaz Begum to win the ticket to parliament, while talking to Apparel Resources, congratulated the Prime Minister for winning the election and said, “The Prime Minister is aware of the issues facing the industry. The energy and gas crisis are affecting the business community. We have faith in our PM and we from within the parliament will make sure that this government becomes more business-friendly.”
He further added that the BGMEA has set aspirational goals, including increasing employment for 6 million people, reducing gas and electricity usage by 30 per cent, eliminating hazardous chemicals and making at least 80 per cent of companies environmentally friendly. “As Member of Parliament, we will push for policies to achieve all these and beyond,” asserted Dewan.
“The entire world has gone through the pandemic to global war and other calamities but still the garment industry, through its diligently focused assertion and with the blessings of our PM, is focused on achieving maximum growth and beyond,” he said.
AKM Salim Osman, MD, Wisdom Attires Limited and President of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), got elected from the Jatiya Party in the Narayanganj-5 (Sadar, Bandar and part of NCC) constituency. He stated, “Even though we always try our hardest to improve the RMG sector’s performance, there are certain issues that always create hurdles like currency crisis and lack of electricity, more pertinently, the crisis of the US dollar. We reckon it won’t be difficult to attain US $ 100 billion garment exports if the government can solve both these hurdles, especially fixing the dollar rate for everyone.”
In the 12th parliament election, 222 seats were won by the Awami League, 62 by independent candidates, 11 by Jatiya Party and 3 by other parties. Two more seats will be decided by polling in future.
