From October 17th to 19th, 2018, a special training on social responsibility for Chinese-funded enterprises, co-organized by industry organizations in China and Myanmar, was successfully held in Yangon, Myanmar. This training event was jointly sponsored by China National Textile and Apparel Council, Myanmar Chinese Enterprise Chamber of Commerce, British Ethical Trade Organization (ETI), German International Cooperation Agency GIZ, and Smart Myanmar, and was supported by the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar and the German Embassy in Myanmar. Great support.

The training is based on the project "Social and Labor Standards for Textile and Apparel Industry in Asia" under the "Bilateral Cooperation and Innovation Joint Action Framework" between the Chinese and German governments, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China on CSC9000T (Textile and Apparel Corporate Social Responsibility Management system) specific implementation actions for overseas promotion of applicable projects. In May 2018, the China National Textile and Apparel Council launched the first training on the same theme in Myanmar in conjunction with the UK Ethical Trade Organization and Smart Myanmar.


Rapidly sprouting manufacturing, cheap labor, and attractive foreign investment policies make Myanmar a hot spot for many foreign investment to set up factories. Top-level designs such as the "Belt and Road" initiative and the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor have brought important development opportunities for China-Myanmar garment industry cooperation. In recent years, the trend of China's investment and establishment of factories in Myanmar has become more and more obvious. According to the preliminary statistics of the Economic and Commercial Office of the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar, 60% of Myanmar garment enterprises are foreign-funded, and Chinese-funded enterprises account for 60% of foreign-funded enterprises. At present, there are more than 300 Chinese-funded enterprises investing in the textile and garment industry in Myanmar, employing more than 300,000 local laborers. For Myanmar, China is not only an investor in the country's textile and garment industry, a source of important raw materials and intermediate products, but also increasingly a consumer of the country's textile and garment products. China and Myanmar are connected by mountains and rivers, the bilateral relations are stable, and the industries are highly complementary. At the training session, Yan Yan, Director of the Social Responsibility Office of China National Textile and Apparel Council, Xie Guoxiang, Economic and Commercial Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in the Union of Myanmar, Ms. Katharina Spiess, Commercial Counselor of the German Embassy in Myanmar, and Liu Ying, President of the Myanmar Chinese Enterprise Chamber of Commerce, delivered speeches. China fully affirmed that Chinese-funded garment enterprises have made important contributions to Myanmar's social and economic development while expanding their business.
 
President Liu Ying first expressed a warm welcome to the business visit of the China Textile Federation and his delegation on behalf of the Myanmar China Chamber of Commerce. As the first professional industry association established in 2015, the Myanmar China Chamber of Commerce has assumed important responsibilities for the healthy development of member companies, especially in recent years. In 2018, attracted by the cost advantages of Myanmar's factors, more and more Chinese-funded enterprises have invested in Myanmar to set up factories. However, in the face of differences in local laws, regulations, customs, and other differences, enterprises are faced with huge cross-cultural communication challenges and social responsibility risks. Chamber of Commerce One of the important responsibilities of CNTAC is to introduce advanced management experience and solutions for member companies, especially the mature experience of China Textile Industry Federation in the self-discipline and sustainable development of the industry. The visit of the China Textile Federation Social Responsibility Office is of great significance. In his speech, Director Yan introduced that since the establishment of the China Textile Federation Social Responsibility Office in 2005, it has been improving corporate social responsibility capacity building and promoting the high-standard, multi-level, and whole-industry-chain social responsibility construction work of information disclosure. "Green Development" to enhance the international competitiveness of the supply chain. At present, the overseas promotion and implementation plan of China's textile and apparel social responsibility management system CSC9000T has basically been formed. China Textile Federation promises to strengthen the advanced experience of social responsibility construction in China's textile and apparel industry in the future. promotion and coaching, and look forward to the formation of a normalized cooperation model. Xie Guoxiang of the Economic and Commercial Counselor's Office of the Chinese Embassy in the Union of Myanmar attended the meeting and delivered a speech. The cooperation between China and Myanmar in the field of social responsibility is of milestone significance for promoting the construction of the "Belt and Road" and the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor. The garment industry has an international competitive advantage. Chinese-funded enterprises invest and build factories in emerging markets in Southeast Asia such as Myanmar, which not only fully explores the cost advantages of Myanmar's factors, but also digests the surplus domestic production capacity and promotes domestic advanced experience and technology. It is a win-win cooperation. We look forward to it. The cooperation between the two sides continues to deepen and expand the results, further enhance the social responsibility management intention and sustainable development ability of Chinese-funded enterprises in Myanmar, and establish a responsible and responsible brand image.
 
In order to institutionalize the Sino-Myanmar social responsibility cooperation in the textile and garment industry, the China National Textile and Apparel Council signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Myanmar Enterprise China Chamber of Commerce and the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association (MGMA). According to the memorandum, the two parties will enhance the awareness and capacity building of the social responsibility competitiveness of Chinese-invested enterprises in Myanmar, and provide training on issues related to the social responsibility management system, mutual recognition of social responsibility standard systems, enhancement of social responsibility information disclosure capabilities, and key points in the field of social responsibility. The two sides will work together to promote a package of cooperation plans such as responsible investment, technology transfer, and professional training for enterprises of the two countries under the framework of the “Belt and Road Initiative” and the “Lancang-Mekong River Cooperation Mechanism”, and refine and mature them. experience to promote.
 
Chinese companies investing in Myanmar also face huge challenges and hidden dangers due to local government policies, political laws, cultural customs, etc. Due to differences in customs, laws and regulations, living habits, religious beliefs, etc., companies from all over Myanmar, especially Yangon factories Labor disputes with workers are almost commonplace, and strikes occur frequently in various places, causing huge losses to enterprises. Since 2016, the Social Responsibility Office of China National Textile and Apparel Council has been devoted to the research on the social responsibility of Chinese textile and garment enterprises in overseas investment, and has formed a special research report on "Overseas Investment and Corporate Social Responsibility of China's Textile and Apparel Industry". Training Activities The Social Responsibility Office of China National Textile and Apparel Council, in cooperation with GIZ, a German international cooperation agency, held a consultation meeting on the "Guidelines for Responsible Overseas Investment of Chinese Textile and Garment Enterprises" for various stakeholders in Myanmar and Chinese-funded enterprises in Myanmar. .
 
Ms. Vicky Bowman from the Myanmar Social Responsibility Center introduced the research report and research findings on the development of Myanmar's garment industry in detail. Dr. Liang Xiaohui, chief researcher of social responsibility of China Textile Federation, interpreted and shared the results of investigations in Myanmar and other three countries. At the same time, in order to provide more companies with practical social responsibility guidelines in their investment decisions.
 
Improving the social responsibility awareness and capabilities of Chinese-funded enterprises is a concrete action to better serve the building of a community of shared future for mankind in response to the call of the CPC Central Committee on the "Belt and Road" people-to-people bond. The two-day training event gave a detailed presentation on the latest development trends of overseas corporate social responsibility, corporate gender equality, Myanmar's business environment, Myanmar's latest labor laws, health and safety and environmental protection and other laws and regulations. In view of the large proportion of female workers in textile and garment enterprises, this training invited Professor Liu Minghui, an expert in the responsibility office of China Textile Federation, to give a special speech on establishing a communication mechanism for gender equality in factories. Help female employees understand and master the manifestations of gender discrimination in employment, evidence collection skills, complaint channels and remedies, improve women's awareness of self-protection and legal rights protection, create a good social environment, improve corporate human resource management, and raise awareness of social responsibility. Equal employment environment. Based on the communication and management mechanism of Myanmar culture and the promotion of enterprise labor relations dialogue, Mr. Feng Lan from SMART Myanmar gave a comprehensive professional and authoritative interpretation to help Chinese-funded enterprises participating in the training keep abreast of Myanmar's latest laws and regulations and establish an effective dialogue River communication mechanism to eliminate crises in a timely manner and deal with potential risks. Ms. Gao Yan from ETI, an ethical trade organization in the United Kingdom, made public the basic rules and social responsibility requirements of ETI. Representatives of many enterprises who participated in the training expressed that: through this training, enterprises can improve their management level and the overall quality of managers. The training activity is an important platform and window to learn from and learn from outstanding enterprises in the industry. Reporters from Xinhua News Agency, CCTV, and International Broadcasting and Television Station conducted follow-up reports.