Beximco Exporting 6.5 million PPE to United States
Beximco's 6.5 million Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) or protective clothing is being exported to the United States. The first shipment of that PPE gown left for the country on Monday after being hit by an Emirates plane.
For the US Federal Emergency Agency (FEMA), the country's clothing brand Haynes is buying 6.5 million PPE gowns from Beximco in Bangladesh. Founded in 1901, Hans does business in about 40 countries. Their number of employees is 65,300.
The first consignment of PPE was officially handed over at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Monday. State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam, US Ambassador to Dhaka Earl Robert Miller, Janata Bank Chairman Jamaluddin Ahmed, CEO of Beximco Textile Division and Director of the group Syed Naveed Hossain, Managing Director of Beximco Pharma Nazmul Hasan and others were present on the occasion.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam said, “The rest of the world is fighting against coronavirus like Bangladesh. In this time of crisis, Bangladesh is currently exporting PPE, the most essential ingredient in the health sector, in just two months, not 10-20 thousand, but 65 lakh pieces. This is an unimaginable achievement.
Earl Robert Miller, the US Ambassador to Dhaka, said that this is the first large PPE shipment to the United States. He said the United States welcomes Bangladesh's move to produce world-class PPE on a large scale for the world market.
The US ambassador said everything had happened in just two months. Beximco and Bangladesh have started production of PPE at a fast pace. That's why today this aircraft is ready to leave for the United States with the much needed PPE. Work has been done at a great pace in both bureaucratic and business aspects.
Syed Naveed Hossain said, "In just two months, we started PPE production with our world-class production, technical and design skills and capabilities to combat coronavirus." He said, “Bangladesh is a good place to become a new hub for PPE production. In this way, on the one hand, the world will be safe and on the other hand, Bangladesh's own economy will be active.
Beximco says it wants to become one of the world's largest PPE producers in the next three years. Beximco PPE Division has been established for that. The new PPE Industrial Park is being set up just 10 minutes away from the Beximco Industrial Park utilising 350-acre land.
Beximco has already signed a strategic agreement with Chicago-based Zest Designs. Both companies are exploring the possibility of setting up a PPE manufacturing plant in Detroit, USA, with the help of local government and city authorities. Zest is already supplying Kavid-19 PPE in Detroit.