Le Cambodge, de l’ère des quotas textiles au libre échange

In January 2005 new rules will be implemented, liberalising the international trade of textile. Their impact on the Cambodian manufacturing sector is studied in this document, as well as accompanying measures that could limit the costs of openness. Cambodia took advantage of the preceding system of quotas and was able to create an important textile sector, employing today more than 200 000 workers transfering part of their wages to a large number of rural households. It also represents more than 80% of exports. Nevertheless, the Cambodian industry of textile do not appear to be ready to compete with its Asian neighbours : in particular, production costs in Cambodia are too high, making its strategy of price competitiveness unsustainable. A new strategy should be elaborated of which some elements are examined by the authors : regional supplying; lowering of financial and administrative constraints on exporters, either formal (taxes) or informal (corruption); participation in multilateral trade negociations in the framework of the Doha cycle; promotion of the implementation of core labour standards as prescribed by ILO.