Sammilito Parishad, a panel contesting in the upcoming biennial polls to the BGMEA's board of directors on March 9, yesterday announced its manifesto, which includes developing a "smart" garment sector.

The declaration was made by Md Siddiqur Rahman, the panel's chief election coordinator and a former BGMEA president, who also announced its 35 members at a press conference in Pan Pacific Sonargaon Dhaka.

The around 2,500 members of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) will elect 35 directors, from among whom a president and seven vice-presidents will be picked.

The panel's leader, SM Mannan, managing director of Seha Design (BD), said he had inducted young blood with experienced businesspeople into the panel to work with the BGMEA members to ensure the sector's sustainability amidst recurring global crises.

Sammilito Parishad promised to keep the BGMEA members updated on the latest innovations and design developments, facilitate growth of small and medium enterprises, develop skills of mid-level officials and work on finding new markets and product diversification.

It assured lobbying with policymakers over a number of issues, including retaining duty benefits to major markets once Bangladesh turns into a developing nation in 2026 alongside ensuring eligibility for the GSP Plus status in the European Union.

The others are on bringing down loan interest rate to a single digit and securing a dedicated US dollar-taka exchange rate, an incentive on non-cotton fibre use and duty-free import of solar panels and related equipment.

The panel will also seek a "Harmonised System" used by customs worldwide to identify products when assessing duties and taxes and repeal of a 1 percentage point cut on a 4 percent cash incentive on exports to new markets coming into effect this month.

The government will also be asked to provide cash incentives and policy support such as long-term tax holidays to backward linkage industries, including those dealing with the use of man-made and recycled fibres.

The manifesto also includes formulation of circular and green fashion guidelines and a unified code of conduct for maintaining social, labour and safety compliance audits.

The government will be urged to end harassment and delays in processes for attaining certifications from RMG Sustainability Council and establish transparency in the implementation of a corrective action plan for the garment sector, it read.

Sammilito Parishad was led in the last election by Faruque Hassan, managing director of Giant Group, who is the current BGMEA president.

Apparel exports from Bangladesh hit a milestone last year fetching an all-time high of nearly $47 billion, eclipsing the previous record set in 2022 by about 10.27 percent, according to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).

In addition, this achievement played a part in taking the country's overall exports in fiscal 2022-23 to another record-high of $55.56 billion.

Garments accounted for 84.58 percent of all export receipts that year while it was 81.82 percent in fiscal 2021-22.

Another unprecedented performance came in the form of the highest single-month apparel export earnings of $4.67 billion in December 2022.

The 2023 apparel export earnings comprised $25.73 billion of knitwear and $21.25 billion of woven garments. These categories had year-on-year growth of 10.87 percent and 9.56 percent respectively.

If related products such as home textiles and specialised fabrics, including silk and wool, headgear and textile waste are included, the year-end export turnover would be $49.24 billion.