President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Faruque Hassan has highlighted the apparel industry’s committed efforts in the area of workers’ rights, well-being and freedom of association.

“We believe in dialogue and discussion, and the ILO-SDIR project has significantly contributed to creating a congenial environment for dialogues,” he said.

Director of Training, ITCILO Andreas Klemmer met Faruque Hassan at his office on Saturday and discussed the issues of mutual interest.

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The International Training Centre of the International Labour Organization (ITCILO) is the training arm of the ILO.

The BGMEA President thanked the ITC-ILO for their continuous support to Bangladesh’s RMG industry over the last few years, which has helped the industry to develop a harmonious industrial relation.

Neeran Ramjuthan, Programme Manager, Labour Administration and Working Conditions Cluster, ILO Bangladesh, and S M Borhan Uddin, Programme Officer, Governance, Social Dialogue and Industrial Relations (SDIR) Project ILO Country Office for Bangladesh were also present on the occasion.

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Miran Ali, Vice President of BGMEA, and ANM Saifuddin, Chair of BGMEA Standing Committee on ILO also attended the meeting.

They discussed various issues including the role of IRI (Industrial Relations Institute) as per BLA (Bangladesh Labour Law) and BLR (Bangladesh Labour Rules), in support of the capacity building of employers and workers’ representatives on issues related to industrial relations, the existing training package offered by IRI and its effectiveness, BGMEA said on Sunday.

ANM Saifuddin, Labour Affairs and ILO, briefed them about the effectiveness of the IRI and praised the initiative, also recommended making it more functional through tripartite collaboration between employers, workers, and government organizations.

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