Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association has stressed the need for organising more promotional campaigns and roadshows to introduce 'Made in Bangladesh' across the globe and brand the country.

"Bangladesh has immense potential to explore new and emerging markets. The BGMEA organised several scoping and trade missions in potential markets and is still working relentlessly in the area of apparel diplomacy," BGMEA President Faruque Hassan said Wednesday.

He was addressing the webinar "Opportunities and Potential of Bangladesh RMG industry in pursuit of Sustained Growth."

The Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) organised the event on the occasion of "Sourcing Bangladesh-2021, Virtual Edition."

Faruque emphasised giving more attention to non-cotton products as their demand is on the rise in the global market. "We are now focusing on non-cotton based textile and apparel to realign our product mix with global sourcing trends and this can be a potential area of investment in the upcoming days."

"Virtual marketplace could also be a big source of growth while we need to move from original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to original design manufacturer (ODM)," he added.

"For entering that new arena of business, it is important to work on several areas such as reforming foreign exchange policies, export and import policies, and tax policy; extending fiscal incentives to those who will develop their own collection and be involved in innovation."

"Also, we need more investments in the backward linkage textile sector, particularly in the woven. The textile sector is a largely unexplored area and has a high potential for investment," the BGMEA president said.

AHM Ahsan, the vice-chairman of the EPB, chaired the webinar while Fazlul Haq, president of the Bangladesh Employers Federation, MS Siddiqui, co-convenor of Bangladesh Columnist Forum, and Md Khorshed Alam, chairman of the standing committee on the development of local spinning and weaving mills of the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association, attended the discussion as panellists.