Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) leaders have met with Primark and its Associated British Foods (ABF) parent’s leaders to discuss Primark’s new wide-reaching sustainability strategy.

BGMEA President Faruque Hassan, Vice President Miran Ali, Directors Asif Ashraf and Abdullah Hil Rakib met with Paul Lister, Director of Legal Services and Company Secretary ABF, Paul Marchant, CEO Primark, Lynne Walker, Director Primark Cares and Juan Chaparro, Group Director Supply Chain, Sourcing and Quality in London to discuss Primark’s new sustainability strategy Primark Cares, and BGMEA’s support for its sustainability ambitions.

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BGMEA expressed its support for the objectives Primark has set out to change the ways its clothes are made, halve its carbon emissions across its wider supply chain and improve the lives of the workers in the supply chain, BGMEA said on Saturday.

Bangladesh is Primark’s second largest sourcing market and home to many of Primark’s strategic suppliers and their factories.

The BGMEA’s support, as one of the country’s largest trade associations for the garment industry, can play a valuable role in helping engage its members in Primark’s sustainability goals.

Both parties discussed the new commitments which Primark will work towards over the next decade in greater detail: Primark has been deliberately ambitious in its goals, stretching targets across its use of recycled materials, environmental footprint and how it will take a leadership role in improving the lives and wellbeing of workers in its supply chain.

This means that delivering many of the new commitments will rely on driving change throughout Primark’s wider supply chain, so gaining the support of external stakeholders, such as the BGMEA, is important.

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Both Primark and the BGMEA have shared goals around sustainability, in particular around workers’ wellbeing and skills development, and look forward to sharing experiences and best practices with each other into the future.