A delegation led Mohammad Tofazzel Hossain Miah, Principal Secretary to the Honorable Prime Minister of Bangladesh, met with Mr. René van Hell, Director of Inclusive Growth at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Netherlands, and Ms. Karin Mössenlechner, Director, Asia and Oceania Department at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs on April 1.

The principal secretary was accompanied by BGMEA President Faruque Hassan, Commerce Secretary of Bangladesh Tapan Kanti Ghosh, Bangladesh Ambassador to the Netherlands M. Riaz Hamidullah, former President of MCCI Nihad Kabir in the meeting which was also attended by Netherlands Ambassador to Bangladesh Anne van Leeuwen. 

Wies van Leeuwen, Business Development Coordinator, India and Bangladesh at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Joost Oorthuizen, CEO of Invest International were present at the meeting held in the Hague, Netherlands.

The delegation apprised the Dutch government high-ups of Bangladesh’s progress in the direction of achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) while spotlighting potential of investment in sustainability in the country.

Speaking at the meeting, BGMEA President Faruque Hassan stated how Bangladesh’s garment industry is making continuous strides towards going green, and is already the global leader with the highest number of green factories.

He urged the Dutch government to support the industry especially in the areas of environmental sustainability – circular fashion, recycling, energy efficiency.  

He also invited investment from the Netherlands in the industry to accelerate its move towards sustainability.

Faruque Hassan also called on the Netherlands government to extend its cooperation in developing knowledge and skills of the students of BGMEA University of Fashion and Technology (BUFT) in textile, apparel, fashion, design and business through collaboration with leading Dutch fashion universities and institutes.