The government imposed a ban on the yarn import from India through land ports about three years ago to protect local spinning mills and stop smuggling of the product through false declaration.

"Any protection in a ruthless competitive world is not acceptable," he told the opening ceremony of Batexpo-2005 at Hotel Sonargaon in Dhaka.

"Unless you (yarn manufacturers) reduce prices, within a month border will be opened to import yarn from India," he said.

On a downtrend in woven garment export to EU market, the finance minister appeared critical of garment manufacturers for only spinning money without investing in backward-linkage industry for which woven exports came down.

He, however, assured that the fall in woven export is a seasonal phenomenon as EU market is going through unstable situation. Referring to his meeting with the EU Trade Commissioner, Saifur said India may soon face such measures as the WTO-imposed safety clause on China regarding export of woven apparels.

Disagreeing with BGMEA leaders' plea for salvaging sick garment industries through government's financial help, Saifur said most industrial units and institutions in the nationalised sector are either "dead, semi-dead or half-dead" as the management could not run those properly.

He rejected the suggestion for salvaging the sick industries through bank loan, which, he said, would create extra burden on the banks. However, he said a policy could be formulated to solve their problems.

Prime Minister Khaleda Zia opened the three-day apparel fair. The inaugural session was also addressed by Commerce Minister Altaf Hossain Choudhury, Commerce Ministry Adviser Barkat Ullah Bulu and BGMEA President Annisul Huq.