Apparel manpower even at the mid-level is not available in Pakistan which hires overseas workers from Sri Lanka, Vietnam, or Bangladesh. The killing of a Sri Lankan manager at a Sialkot factory has made hiring foreigners more difficult.
Our competing regional economies have mostly overcome this disadvantage. They achieved this through the dedicated efforts of their government institutes established for this purpose. In Pakistan, the apparel sector imparts in-house skill training to its workers and hires foreign apparel experts at the supervisory level. They then train the local staff through them. It is a time-consuming process and quality professional training cannot be provided at the manufacturing facility.
Bangladesh for instance has established training institutes that have been able to train enough manpower to say goodbye to foreign experts. The Bangladeshi Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi declared at a function of BUFT-EPB PGD Programme for Mid-Level Management that the country has enough mid-level manpower in the RMG sector. It no longer requires foreign manpower at the mid-level.
He said locally trained mid-level manpower is performing excellently and Bangladesh need not bank on foreign managers anymore. The Bangladesh Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) collaborated with BUFT to launch and execute diploma courses for mid-level managers and employees of garment factories to develop their professional skills.
Tipu pointed out that skilled manpower is the main driving force for the RMG industry. He said the government is making efforts to minimize the dependency on foreign manpower in the RMG sector. He commended the RMG sector of Bangladesh which has been able to grab the second slot in the global RMG industry despite braving various adversities. He revealed that 82 percent of Bangladesh’s exports are generated by the RMG sector.
