Cambodian garment exports up 10pc in 2005: ILO
Afp, Phnom Penh
Cambodia's garment and textile exports in 2005 jumped 10 percent year-on-year to top two billion dollars for the first time, the International Labour Organisation said Wednesday. "This data is very encouraging," said Ros Harvey, chief technical advisor for ILO Better Factories Cambodia. "We are seeing a steady growth in the sector. However there are still many challenges ahead for the industry," she said in a statement. Total exports reached almost 2.2-billion-dollars in 2005, and the boom created nearly 30,000 new jobs in a sector that was thought doomed after the end of an international quota system in January 2005, the ILO said. Under the 30-year-old multi-fibre arrangement (MFA), Cambodia was given special access to the US market through a 1999 trade deal that granted quotas in return for improved labour conditions monitored by the UN's labour agency. The arrangement was hailed by international buyers, such as US company Gap Inc, which helped local manufacturers to mould an image of themselves as responsible corporate citizens who eschewed "sweatshop" labour.
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