D-8 National Plan to Establish Textile Common Market

The D-8 countries (G8 countries of the developing countries) plan to establish a common textile market and create regional apparel brands to promote economic cooperation among the 8 member countries. The proposal was put forward by the group in a meeting of the D-8 textile and apparel industry cooperation working group held in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

D-8 member states include Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Algeria, Pakistan and Turkey. The total population of the eight countries is nearly 1 billion, and the textile and clothing market is worth US$20 billion.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA)** Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin stated that “all D-8 members have agreed to establish a common textile market through the effective operation of the Secretariat”.

The meeting was held by Mohiuddin** and participants included delegations from D-8 member countries.

Turkey also proposes to establish guidelines for academic research capabilities in D-8 member states, Indonesia proposes to develop consistent textile testing standards, and Egypt proposes to establish a common agency for investment promotion.

The report in the textile and apparel project team meeting pointed out that the establishment of a common market requires efforts to eliminate tariffs and non-tariff barriers, eliminate import quota restrictions on all textiles, and provide one-stop multinational visa services for high-end textile workers.

Other discussions included the establishment of a D-8 Textile Chamber of Commerce and a common website for all D-8 textile and apparel information, as well as the trade of apparel products in the market.

At present, the tariff rates of various member countries are different from each other in terms of their structure. D-8 Group believes that the implementation of a unified tariff structure or tariff reduction will obviously benefit all member states.

BGMEA** Mohiuddin stated that Bangladesh will play a key role in establishing a common textile market for D-8 countries.

Although Bangladesh is the second largest garment exporter in the world, Bangladesh’s exports to D-8 countries remain minimal. In the fiscal year 2011/2012 (July 2011 to June 2012), Bangladesh exported garments to D-8 member countries amounting to US$727 million, only accounting for 3.0% of its total exports.

Monirul Islam, dean and associate professor of Textile and Fashion Institute of Fashion Design and Business Studies at Bangladesh Textile University, said that the mutual trade of D-8 member countries still has great room for growth. Drain pointed out that the formation of the D-8 common textile market will depend on the will of the D-8 member governments.