Its goals are to build capacity and increase skills and knowledge in local partner organisations to help develop marketing and export strategies.
Speaking at a press conference during the first ever meeting of the EU-Myanmar Task Force in Yangon on November 14, EU commissioner for development Andris Piebalgs called Myanmar’s recent development “unprecedented”. The EU will choose 20 out of 100 SME members of the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers’ Association to be brought up to European market standards.
Since the project began earlier this year, 14 young local engineers have already been trained as consultants, and will receive practical field experience in European factories.
“Now we have codes of conduct. Investment and manufacturing have visibly increased since the EU lifted sanctions, and the number of garment factories is increasing,” said Daw Khine Khine Nwe, a member of the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers’ Association.
However, key challenges such as regulation, electricity supply and logistics remained, she said.
Participants in the project include Sequa (DE) Sheffield Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UK), the confederation of the German Textile and Fashion Industry (DE) and the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP) located in the Philippines, German International Cooperation (GIZ) and the Netherlands-based Centre for Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries (CBI).
Mr Piebalgs is also taking part in the official launch of the SWITCH-SMART (SMEs for Environmental, Accountability, Responsibility and Transparency) program, which promotes and supports the sustainable production of garments “made in Myanmar”.
The 3-year project (2013-2015) is funded with an EU grant of about $2.7 million and aims to reduce poverty through trade and private-sector development.
source: The Myanmar Times
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