Vietnam has become a huge competitor in the global RMG sector for Bangladesh. The South-Asian country has been an emerging giant in the global textile and apparel industry.
Due to the sustainably developed industry and strong labor codes, the country has been attracting a huge amount of progress in the textile sector making it one of the strongest competitors for Bangladesh in apparel export.
The newly signed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the European Union (EU) and Vietnam has made the competition stronger.
The European Union has signed the landmark free trade deal with Vietnam on June 30th, 2019. By the signing of this agreement, Vietnam is now the first of its kind with a developing country in Asia who received tariff reductions on 99% of goods between the 28-member bloc and the Southeast Asian country.
The agreement still needs to be ratified by the European Parliament.
However, some of the lawmakers have shown their concern about the country’s human rights issue. Because Vietnam did not ratify 2 fundamental conventions of ILO include 87 – freedom of association and protection of the right to organize, and 105 – abolition of forced labor.
According to Amnesty International, Vietnam currently has at least 128 political prisoners, with 10% jailed for social media posts. The 88 Project, which monitors rights abuses in Vietnam, says the country is currently holding more than 200 political prisoners.
