The finance ministry cannot remain silent in the cases of money laundering and misappropriation of money from the banking sector through irregularities, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed said yesterday.

"The government will not spare anyone whose names have surfaced in cases of irregularities," he said, citing the punitive measures taken against the perpetrators of the Hall-Mark and Destiny cases to further his point.

Ahmed's comments came at a workshop on the expansion and facilitation of the garment sector held at the Cirdap auditorium in Dhaka. The commerce ministry organised the event.

The minister agreed that one or two irregularities may take place among thousands of bank borrowings, but the blame should not fall on everyone in the sector.

At one point, Ahmed seemed to play down the irregularities in the banking sector by saying that such incidents have recently been reported in India.

At the workshop, Ahmed said Bangladesh exported 744 types of products to 199 countries last fiscal year, as export diversification, both in terms of product and country, is underway.

Experts from Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institute (BFTI) presented a study at the workshop.

They said the garment sector was heavily dependent on the EU (63 percent), the US (18 percent) and Canada (3 percent), with 74 percent of the total garment export comprising of just five items.

New markets such as in Oceania, Commonwealth of Independent States and Latin America must be explored for diversification and sustainability of the sector, they said.

The BFTI suggested concentrating on high-end garment products like suits, blazers, lingerie, jackets, swimwear, sportswear, uniforms, raincoat and fishing gear.

They also suggested efficient operation of the Chittagong port, reduction of traffic congestion and supply of adequate gas and power to factories.

 "The issue of labour standards and their rights related to freedom of association inside and outside of the export processing zones should be seriously addressed," the study said.