Shawdesh desk:

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday said that despite being an environment-friendly agricultural product jute does not get the expected attention and incentives given to the garments industries of the country.

‘Jute is environment-friendly. But it does not get the incentives like the garment industries. I think it is urgently needed that jute should get that scope. To this end I have already given my directives,’ she said.

The prime minister said this while addressing a programme marking the National Textiles Day-2022 and inauguration of six new textile engineering colleges.

The programme was held at Bangabandhu International Conference Center, while she joined virtually from her official residence Ganabhaban.

The theme of National Textiles Day-2022 is — let’s use local textile products, build golden Bangla.

Hasina mentioned that in the past jute brought foreign currencies for the country and there were similar opportunities as due to climate change people were now very much aware about the environment.

‘Jute is an environment-friendly product. It is possible to produce varieties of products from jute,’ she said.

She also said that researchers of the country are working hard on this and has been able to invent various types of products from jute.

‘We should give more importance to jute,’ she said.

The prime minister said that new creative ideas must be brought into the traditional old items for better results.

She asked the RMG entrepreneurs to find new markets alongside making new varieties of products.

‘We do not want to remain import dependent, we want to export more,’ she said.

She said that ICT was playing a big role in export revenue income.

She put emphasis on value addition to the export items of the country for marketing those so that these could bring more foreign exchange for the country.

Hasina said that the current era was a digital era and Bangladesh had turned into a digital country to reap its benefits.

‘If we see the Industrial revolution of the world, we will see one concept after another is coming out. Now has come the fourth Industrial revolution where digital devices will be used mostly’, she added.

For that, she said that the government had taken steps to develop the people of Bangladesh as the worthy manpower for that revolution.

She said that the government has taken move to provide technical training in every upazilas to create manpower in various trades which will be needed in the coming days.

‘Creating skilled manpower is our main goal, because in Bangladesh the youth folks are very much skilled, if we provide them with a little bit of training they will be able to do high level works easily,’ she said.

Textiles and jute minister Golam Dastagir Gazi, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association acting president Md Shahidullah Azim and textiles and jute secretary Md Abdur Rauf also spoke at the event.

A documentary on jute products was also screened at the programme.

Textiles and jute minister Golam Dastagir Gazi, on behalf of the PM, handed over awards to 10 institutions and organisations for their contribution in the development of the textile sector.

Textiles and jute ministry established six new textile engineering colleges in different districts across the country.

The colleges are — Sheikh Rehana Textile Engineering College in Gopalganj, Shaheed Abdur Rob Serniabat Textile Institute at Gournadi of Barishal, Shaheed Kamaruzzaman Textile Institute at Manda in Naogaon, Begum Amina Mansoor Textile Engineering Institute at Kazipur of Sirajganj, Bhola Textile Institute in Bhola, and Sheikh Russell Textile Institute at Madarganj in Jamalpur.

Currently, there are six government textile engineering colleges located in Chattogram, Pabna, Noakhali, Jhenaidah, Barishal, and Rangpur. These are affiliated with the Bangladesh Textile University and managed by the directorate of textiles under the Ministry of Textiles and Jute.