DHAKA, April 30, 2020 (BSS) – The Netherlands, one of the European destinations of Bangladesh garment products, has assured Dhaka that their buyers would not cancel or suspend orders given to the ready-made garments (RMG) factories here during or after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Dutch government also guaranteed Bangladesh that the RMG value chain would not be disrupted.
The promises were made while the Netherlands foreign trade and development cooperation minister Sigrid Kaag made a phone call to foreign minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Wednesday to talk about the impact of COVID-19 and to discuss way forward, a foreign ministry press release said here today.
The Dutch minister made the assurance as Momen raised the issue of cancellation of orders of Bangladesh RMG products by different European brands and buyers as the pandemic put global economy into tailspin.
The Bangladesh foreign minister mentioned that $3.18 billion worth of RMG orders have already been cancelled or suspended by international buyers, affecting 1,150 factories and 2.28 million workers in Bangladesh.
The Dutch minister informed that the Dutch government has set up a fund of 100 million Euros to help countries that need support because of COVID-19 pandemic.
The countries that are interested to use the fund would need to request for allocation, Sigrid Kaag told Momen.
On the Rohingya crisis, Momen explained to the Dutch minister that the around 500 Rohingyas who are on two boats in the sea are not in or even near the Bangladesh maritime border. He pointed out that according to the law of the seas, other countries in the region have responsibilities to save the Rohingyas.
Kaag agreed that if Bangladesh continues to rescue boat loads of Rohingyas again and again then it may work as a decoy for Myanmar and encourage them to push more Rohingyas to the deep sea. Bangladesh foreign Minister thanked the Dutch government for supporting the cause of the Rohingyas, and for supporting them during the trial at the International Court of Justice.
Minister Kaag assured Dr Momen that her country would continue to strongly support the Rohingyas in their journey for justice and accountability.
Dr Momen also raised the issue of impact of COVID-19 in the Middle East, where 11.2 million Bangladeshi expatriate workers have lost their jobs.
He informed the Dutch minister that Bangladesh had approached the governments of Middle East with two specific requests – to ensure that the Bangladeshis, including those who have lost their jobs, do not starve and to provide six months’ salaries for the Bangladeshi workers who had been terminated. Momen sought Dutch support in convincing the Middle Eastern governments on these two issues.
In reply, Kaag said she would talk to Dutch ambassadors in that region regarding the issue.
Fearing that foreign direct investment (FDI) would be negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Momen requested for Dutch technical assistance to get more FDI in the areas of agriculture and fisheries.
Kaag responded positively to the request and mentioned that the Netherlands would be ready to support Bangladesh in this regard.
In the telephone meeting that lasted close to half an hour, both ministers agreed to work together on the issues of common and global interest.