The principal reason we didn't lose out to China as everyone had predicted is because labor in Bangladesh is cheaper than anywhere else in the world.
I would take stern action against the factory owner for this accident.
He has assured us to tag our priority items into the list of 97 per cent products to be given duty-free access.
Most of the casualties occurred as factory gates were locked (from the outside).
We do not have enough fund. But I will urge our fellow members to contribute as much as they can.
We estimate about 30 percent of owners do not comply with safety standards.
We can't offer lower prices than what we are offering now.
We will form a vigilance team to inspect all the 4,000 ready-made garment factories round the year and detect violators, who will face strict action.
We fall in highly competitive post-MFA era that began from January 1, 2005, as we are competing with some giant RMG producing countries including China and India.
BGMEA was awaiting the task force reports before working out mechanisms for other compliance conditions.
I consider it as a good beginning. India at least opened its market to us.