Newspaper : The News Today

Date : 1/25/2010

KHULNA, Jan 24: Minister for Textiles and Jute Abdul Latif Siddique today said the government is taking steps, including reinstatement of the retrenched workers and opening up of the closed jute mills, to revitalize the country’s jute sector, reports BSS. The government also has a plan for reforms in mills management, procurement of jute and promotion of marketing to improve this vital sector, he said. The minister was addressing as the chief guest a dialogue titled “”Restructuring of the Jute Manufacturing Sector in Bangladesh: Challenges and Options”. Laiif said the government would impart training to both workers and management personnel in the jute sector. He said the jute sector was beset with problems due to faulty policies of the earlier governments. The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and Economics Discipline of Khulna University jointly organised the dialogue in Khulna. Dr Md Saifuddin Shah, Vice-Chancellor of Khulna University and Dr Purnendu Gain and Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the university were present as the special guests. Executive Director of CPD Professor Mustafizur Rahman chaired the function. Participants of the dialogue discussed about various initiatives requiring to promote the jute sector of the country, including transfer of technology. They advocated for introducing a new department in the Khulna University to make jute graduates, diversification of jute products, HYV seeds for jute and better technology for jute sector. The country’s traditional jute sector, they said, could get a new lifeline in view of the increasing demand for jute products both in global and domestic markets. They suggested restructuring and reforms of the jute mills under the Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) to improve productivity, efficiency and capacity utilisation. In his keynote paper, Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem, Senior Research Fellow of CPD, stressed the need for policy interventions in three core areas. The areas are: strengthening of relevant institutions, undergoing necessary reforms and restructuring of BJMC and privatisation of the SOEs related to the jute sector. Drawing a comparison between the performance of both public and private sector jute mills of Bangladesh and the jute mills operated in India, the paper suggested implementation of short and medium term steps. He laid stress on forming a ‘Jute Board’ to review the Jute Policy 2002, encourage domestic use of jute goods, gear up research and development activities and form a ‘Technology Upgradation Fund’. The minister also shared his thoughts on how to make the jute sector of the country profitable and steps of the ministry in this respect. The dialogue was attended by political leaders, private sector entrepreneurs, trade union leaders, academics, senior officials of both public and private sector jute mills. Among others, Noni Gopal Mondal, MP, Sheikh Harunur Rashid, former Whip of Jatiya Sangsad, Dr Mohammed Ziaul Haider, Head of Economics Department of Khulna University, Khalid Hossian, General Secretary of Committee for Protection of Jute and Jute Industry and Forhad Ahmed Akand, Senior Vice-President of Khulna Chamber of Commerce and Industries, spoke on the occasion.