Need for technology and skills to help boost knitwear products exports was clearly felt by industry leaders at a function in Dhaka on Saturday.
All this would help produce manufacture quality garments that could withstand global competition and enhance exports to gain valuable foreign exchange.
Titled "Maintenance Technology on Industrial Sewing Machines," a week-long training programme was held at with President of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) Fazlul Hoque as the Chief guest.
In his valedictory address, he said a US $1 billion knitwear export target was fixed for next year aimed at the US market.
Knitwear exports to the US stood at $400 million, while it recorded $2.2 billion worth exports to the European Union.
Conducted by The Association for Overseas Technical Scholarship (AOTS), Japan, the training was held in association with Brother Industries Japan, Brother Singapore and Brother Liaison Office Bangladesh.
Dr A K M Moazzem Hussain, AOTS representative for Bangladesh and Nepal, Yasushi Tsusaka, representative of Brother, Japan and Katsura Naganawa, representative of Brother Singapore, among others, spoke at the event.
About 50 engineers and senior technical personnel from different garment industries in and around Dhaka city are attending the workshop.
Meanwhile, Hoque also announced that a 'Bangladesh Knitwear Show' would be held in New York in November by BKMEA to attract more American buyers.
Informing that every day a new knitwear industrial unit comes up in the country, Hoque said export to the US would surely rise in the near future.
Brother being the second largest supplier of sewing machines, the company has conveyed that it would pay special efforts to develop this sector.
More than 1,20,000 people from 170 countries have undergone training under AOTS, so far.
