‘Proper plan needed for ensuring uninterrupted supply chain during disaster’
Bangladesh ranks sixth among the risk-prone countries against natural disasters
A proper plan is needed to ensure that the supply chain continues to function effectively during various natural disasters, including pandemics, speakers said at the inaugural ceremony of a two-day workshop on supply chain resilience in Chattogram on Saturday morning.
The Chattogram Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), Bangladesh Centre of Excellence (BCE) and National Resilience Programme (NRP) under the planning ministry jointly organised the second phase of the "training of trainers" workshop at the World Trade Centre in the port city.
The first phase of the training workshop was held last March.
Supply chain disruptions have come to the fore during the ongoing Covid pandemic and the private sector suffered the most due to disruptions.
The workshop, among others, was addressed by CCCI President Mahbubul Alam, Planning Commission's Programming Division Head (Additional Secretary) Khandaker Ahsan Hossain, NRP Project Director (Joint Secretary) Dr Nurun Nahar, UNDP Programme Analyst Arif Abdullah Khan, and UNDP National Resilience Project Manager SM Morshed.
At the workshop, Mahbubul Alam said the job of the businessmen is to invest but the business is run by skilled and experienced officers engaged in the business organisation. Therefore, to increase the skill of the officials of different organisations, such a workshop is very timely and important.
Khandaker Ahsan Hossain said, "The National Resilience Programme of the planning ministry has been arranged in such a way that the private sector can take it forward even after the completion of the project. So, the project is being coordinated with the private sector, and this workshop on supply chain resilience is a reflection of that."
He hoped that the participants of the workshop would be able to develop themselves as skilled trainers.
Arif Abdullah Khan said Bangladesh ranks sixth among the countries that are risk-prone to natural disasters. Therefore, every non-government organisation needs to be prepared to deal with that risk.
He called on the participants in the workshop to learn from the supply chain disruptions caused by the ongoing corona pandemic, and come up with a better plan to avoid such disruptions in future.
During the first phase of the workshop, last March, 25 supply chain executives from various reputed private organisations were trained.