This was said in a keynote presentation at a seminar on 'Quality Management System in Bangladesh including its Impact on Import and Export Trade' organised by Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) at its secretariat yesterday.

Manzur Ahmed, director of DCCI, in his presentation on Elements of Quality Management said to ensure the standards and suggested the government should reconstitute the national standards setting body Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI).

He proposed formulation and adoption of an appropriate legislation to transform BSTI and other public sector institutions, relating to Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and sanitary and phyto-sanitary (SPS) measures, into joint ventures between the government and the respective stakeholders in all aspects of QMS.

"To protect the interest of the consumers and to facilitate as well as expedite global market access for Bangladeshi products and services, it is imperative to establish and implement an appropriate QMS and accreditation system," he recommended.

Ahmed also recommended affiliation to International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and the international bodies concerned to expedite and conclude agreements on mutual recognition and acceptability of the national accreditation scheme with the member states of Saarc, BIMST-EC, EU and other trading blocks.

"Bangladesh Accreditation Board/Commission (BAB/C) should be constituted as a joint venture initiative of the public and private sectors under the terms and conditions to be specified in the proposed Accreditation Act," he added.

The speakers at the seminar also stressed the need for adopting QMS in all kinds of business in order to turn external trade position around.

They said there is no alternative to taking in quality management system to survive in the present competitive world market.

Speaking at the function, Industries Minister Motiur Rahman Nizami urged to survive in the global competition and suggested that management of each and every firm or business in Bangladesh, particularly who are actively engaged in external business, should attain the QMS standards.

The minister, citing example of USA and EU requirement of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) test for shrimp and frozen foods export, said: "Bangladesh's items are now facing not only tariff and non-tariff barriers, but also technical barriers for accessing respective export markets."

"Almost all our competing exporters are going to implement QMS due to the WTO agreement on TBT, so all exporters need to attain quality not only in management but also in their products and services simultaneously," he said.

DCCI President Fazle RM Hasan said to gain greater access to export market so that developing countries can influence international standards by using WTO agreements on the application of SPS measures and TBT to their advantage.

"In order to meet the requirements of international markets regarding quality and standard, we have to undertake an integrated approach for overall development of our standard and quality of products and enforcement of the relevant rules and regulations," the DCCI president said.

ABM Abdul Howk Chowdhury, director general of BSTI, said there is no alternative to ensuring quality of products to survive and sustain in the world export market.

"Unless we produce quality products we will lag behind in the export as well as import market," he said.

Md Lokman Miah, assistant director (Physical Testing) of BSTI, presented another keynote paper on Product Labelling at the seminar.

MA Matin, professor of Electrical Department of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Liaquat Ali, director (Physical) of BSTI, Nazrul Islam and Saiful Islam, directors of DCCI, also spoke at the function.