Ho Chi Minh City April 18, 2003 — Mekong Project Development Facility (MPDF) has teamed with Global Standards – Toan Tin Consulting and with AGTEK (Association of Garment, Textile, Embroidery & Knitting of HCM City) to introduce WRAP Certification to Vietnamese manufacturers and help them build up their exports of apparel to the US and world markets.
WRAP or Worldwide Responsible Apparel Production is a certification system for apparel factories developed by the American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA), which includes some 700 companies including many of the largest producers of footwear, garments and accessories in the US (including Sara Lee, Russell, Jockey, and VF Corp.).
In today’s global marketplace, buyers are placing increased demands on their suppliers. With growing consumer concern about corporation’s social responsibility for labor, safety and environmental standards, manufacturers in Vietnam face frequent audits for compliance with local laws and international standards to satisfy their buyers. The WRAP Production Principles offer a common set of labor and safety standards to apparel producers worldwide, reducing the burden of repeated compliance audits.
"WRAP offers a clear and comprehensive system for factories to manage their compliance obligations", said Carey Zesiger of Global Standards; “the WRAP system offers a complete set of tools for factory managers to take control of the compliance process and learn to manage labor and safety issues just as they manage quality and other production demands from buyers".
To assist local manufacturers in raising their competitiveness and increasing their exports, MPDF and Global Standards are introducing WRAP to the local market and translating all the WRAP tools and materials into Vietnamese. Today’s introductory presentation will be followed by an in-depth informational seminar on compliance policies and procedures for WRAP certification to be held at the AGTEK office on April 25, 2003.
MPDF will additionally provide financial and technical support to five select factories to seek WRAP certification this year. MPDF will study the experience of these factories in an effort to draw lessons from them and assist other factories seeking certification.
“As part of MPDF’s ongoing efforts to support Vietnamese SMEs and promote trade development, we seek to encourage socially responsible business strategies that can build management competencies and increase competitiveness", said John McKenzie of MPDF; “we believe WRAP certification offers a ‘win-win’ solution for local manufacturers to improve their business both socially and economically”.
The Mekong Project Development Facility (MPDF), was established in 1997 to support the development and growth of private, domestically-owned, small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. MPDF is managed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private arm of the World Bank Group, and financed by a number of donor countries and institutions, including: Asian Development Bank (ADB), Australia, Canada, Finland, IFC, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. (
www.MPDF.org)
