CCCI Seeks ILO Partnership to Close Bangladesh's Industrial Skills Gap

The Chattogram Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) has formally expressed interest in partnering with the International Labour Organization (ILO) to build an industry-ready workforce in Bangladesh's port city and beyond.

The interest emerged during a discussion between CCCI leaders and an ILO delegation in Chattogram. Both sides stressed skills development, work-based learning and employment support services as priorities. The proposal remains an intention at this stage — no agreement, budget or timeline has been confirmed.

What does the partnership target?

The proposed collaboration carries three stated objectives:

• Strengthen industry-academia linkages between enterprises and technical institutions
• Expand vocational training across industrial trades
• Improve workforce readiness through practical, industry-focused skills programs

Mohammad Amirul Haque, President of CCCI, told the meeting that Bangladesh's education system needs significant reform to promote technical and practical education matched to real industrial demand. He called for adopting vocational training models from countries such as Canada.

Haque named specific trades for expanded short-term training: plumbing, painting, cutting, sewing and gas-line installation. The list points directly at Bangladesh's ready-made garment and construction supply chains, where sewing operators and skilled trades remain persistent hiring bottlenecks. He also pressed for modernized curricula and training methods to address advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence.

What is the government already doing?

The discussion highlighted an ongoing government initiative to establish nationwide Employment Exchange Centers under the Ministry of Labour and Employment, with technical support from the ILO. The program aims to link industrial enterprises with technical educational institutions and to promote work-based training, skills development and job placement services.

For sourcing managers, the exchange centers could eventually reduce recruitment lead times and screening costs for Bangladeshi suppliers — though no capacity figures or rollout dates were disclosed at the meeting.

What did the ILO say?

Max Tunon, ILO Country Director for Bangladesh, joined the meeting virtually. He said the ILO works to address the interests of all stakeholders — government, employers and workers — and that the organization's key objective is to create more and better jobs while improving working conditions across the country.

Tunon said the ILO is focusing on connecting technical education institutions with industrial enterprises, expanding work-based learning opportunities, developing industry-relevant skills and improving productivity through a workforce better aligned with market needs.

Who attended?

The meeting drew senior representation from both industry bodies and the development partner:

• Md. Amjad Hossain Chowdhury, Senior Vice-President, CCCI
• Shahidul Alam, Director, CCCI
• Enamul Aziz Chowdhury and Md. Saifullah, Directors, BGMEA
• Peter Belen, Chief Technical Adviser, ILO
• Gunjan Dallakoti, Head of Program, ILO
• Tanzel Ahsan, Senior Program Officer, ILO
• A.N.M. Saifuddin, BGMEA Chief Coordinator for ILO and Labour Affairs
• Mirza Md. Jamshed Ali, Managing Director, Ritz-G Group

The BGMEA presence signals that apparel-sector employers — who dominate Chattogram's industrial base and export earnings — are directly engaged in shaping the workforce agenda.

The discussion underscored growing coordination between industry stakeholders and development partners to address Bangladesh's skills gap and build a workforce capable of supporting industrial growth and competitiveness. If the CCCI-ILO partnership moves from stated interest to signed program, factory-level training capacity and operator productivity in Chattogram's garment sector will be the metrics to watch.