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Last month, more than 1,100 people died when a building housing multiple garment factories collapsed in Dhaka.
A boom in clothing manufacture had contributed to “the emergence of factories which are not compliant to environmental and various safety measures. These need to be corrected,” Moni said on Thursday.
“The Bangladeshi government shares the concerns of the EU, for every life is precious to us,” she added.
Her visit to Brussels came a week after the European Parliament warned Bangladesh that its preferred trade status with the EU - exempting it from duties or quotas - could be revoked if it fails to comply with guidelines on workers’ conditions.
Bangladesh’s textile industry accounts for the majority of its exports to the EU.
“We are, in a way, accomplices to what has happened,” said EU lawmaker John Attard-Montalto of the Socialists and Democrats.
“Obviously, in commercial terms, retailers try to get the best prices for their textiles, thus reducing the margin of profit for the entrepreneurs,” he said.
He expressed concern that the factory collapse came in the wake of a deadly factory fire six months ago that should have served as a wake-up call.
Moni said that Bangladesh had already taken steps to improve conditions, for example by setting up a government committee on factory safety and allocating funds to recruit 200 new building inspectors.
Bangladesh’s parliament was due to consider new labour laws that would strengthen workers’ rights by granting them freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, she added.
But “reforms cost,” the minister warned, citing an independent report that it would cost $3bn to bring all factories in line with safety requirements. Over five years, that was 10 cents for each of the 7bn items of clothing exported.
“I believe consumers in the West are ready to pay this modest increase, or even a little more, for the millions of women who stitch for them in a distant land,” Moni said.
The minister stressed the importance of the country’s ready-made garments sector, on which 20mn people were dependent, with more than 4mn workers directly employed in 5,000 factories.
The industry had contributed to “significant social changes,” she said, helping to liberate women from poor rural economies or their traditional role of homemakers.
“The ripple effects across our social fronts are beyond measure,” she said. “They are now more confident and conscious of their rights, entitlements and access to decision-making processes.”
At the same time, she said Bangladesh was still catching up on law enforcement, after many had gone unpunished for crimes committed in the country’s 1971 independence war against Pakistan, when an estimated 3mn people were killed.
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