Safeguarding the Cambodian dream

[quaoar]

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/

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From the time their daughters are born, many rural Cambodians in the last decade have clung to one dream.

"As soon as girls start walking, parents hope that someday they'll grow up, move to Phnom Penh and work in a garment factory," said Sok Hach, director of the Economic Institute of Cambodia. "Then they can send money back to the family."

But the garment industry, which employs 280,000 (mostly female) Cambodians and helps support at least one million, is due for a shake-up. When the quota system governing international textile commerce and Cambodia's bilateral trade agreement with the United States expire January 1, the country will have to compete with big players in an open market.

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"If we don't make major progress by June, we'll see a 30 percent drop in the industry, 60,000 jobless women, and social unrest."