Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday urged both the local and international entrepreneurs to take steps to ensure labour rights alongside creating more job opportunities.

She also urged them to take steps for the development of environment in their respective industries, ensure increased welfare of their workers, their occupational health and safety, and employ more women and physically-challenged people.

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The Prime Minister made the request while inaugurating the Dhaka Summit on Skills, Employability, and Decent Work at Osmani Memorial Auditorium in Dhaka.

She hoped that development partners will increase their cooperation in improving the efficiency of workers, improving reliability and creating decent work environment as they did in the past.

Mentioning that achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) a big challenge for Bangladesh, the Prime Minister said increasing the supply of skilled manpower, creating new employment and income earnings capacity will help us alleviate poverty and other social indices to the desired level. ‘I firmly believe we’ll also be successful in achieving SDGs with our united efforts.’

She said improving the efficiency of manpower is undeniable as climate change, technological change, mechanisation of agriculture and conversion of labour demand are heavily influencing the national economy.

About export, Sheikh Hasina said, ‘We should diversify our products and expansion of market for our future economy and jobs.’

Referring incentives to increase the demand for products, ‘Only incentives are not enough, we also need to invest more in capital and technology and human resource development.’

ILO DG Guy Bemard Ryder, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid, Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Nurul Islam, State Minister for Labour and Employment Ministry Md. Mujibul Haque (Chunnu), Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) President Md Siddiqur Rahman, High Commissioner Benoît-Pierre Laramée, Switzerland Ambassador to Bangladesh Christian Fotsch, Secretary General of International Organization of Employers Linda Kromjong, Director, Strategy and Operations, Human Development Practice World Bank Group Amit Dar and National Coordination Committee Workers Education (NCCWE) Chairperson Shah Muhammad Abu Jafar also spoke on the occasion.