The European Union-funded SMART project for the garment sector launched corporate responsibility tools at a press conference and panel discussion at the Sule Shangri-La Hotel in Yangon on October 30.
The CSR tools project involves distributing books, videos and posters to more than 3,000 Myanmar businesses, said project manager Daw Su Tayar Lin, part of an awareness programme for a more sustainable and socially responsible garment industry, one that currently employs tens of thousands of workers in factories across Myanmar.
The discussion brought together representatives of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry or UMFCCI, Yoma Bank Group, the International Labour Organization and the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and Pacific to discuss how corporate social responsibility or CSR is beneficial to businesses and encourage small and medium-sized enterprises or SMEs to embrace it.
The opening speech was given by Dr. Pwint San, deputy Minister of Commerce who stressed the importance of the meeting and said that CSR provided a win-win situation for society, the environment and business. Mr. U Win Aung, chairman of UMFCCI President encouraged all business people to practice CSR activities to help businesses and the industry as a whole.
The SMART (SMEs for Environmental, Accountability, Responsibility and Transparency) Myanmar project promotes and supports sustainable production of garments ‘made in Myanmar’ to increase its international competitiveness. ADFIAP represented the SMART Myanmar project’s lead-implementor Sequa of Germany and its co-partners namely, the United Kingdom’s Sheffield Chamber of Commerce & Industry, the Confederation of the German Textile & Fashion Industry, the Republic of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce in Myanmar Business (UMFCCI), the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association (MGMA) as well as project associates, GIZ of Germany and the Netherlands’ Centre for the Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries (CBI).
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