DHAKA: Bangladeshi garment manufacturers were to meet representatives of leading Western brands Monday in a bid to assure them about safety standards after the deadly collapse of a factory compound.
Shahidullah Azim, a vice-president of Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association which represents more than 4,500 factories, said firms such as H&M, Gap, C&A and Li and Fung would be present at the meeting in Dhaka.
However he not could not confirm whether any of the firms known to have had orders at the collapsed Rana Plaza compound, which include Britain's Primark and Spain's Mango, would attend.
"We want to assure them that we're taking action to prevent a repeat of such tragedies," said Azim.
"We'll seek their understanding and will also request them not to cancel orders and shipments," he told AFP. "We need their help -- they are part of us."
Nearly 400 people are known to have died in the Rana Plaza collapse last Wednesday, the latest in a series of disasters to hit the garment industry in Bangladesh.
A fire at another factory last November in the industrial hub of Ashulia, where clothing for the likes of Walmart and C&A was being made, killed 111 people.
The industry accounts for 80 percent of the country's exports and more than 40 percent of the country's industrial workforce.
A typical textile worker earns less than 40 dollars a month, with most working around 10 hours a day and six days a week.
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