The ministry of commerce and ministry of labour in Cambodia has signed a MoU with the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC) and International Labour Organisation’s Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) for a programme to improve working conditions and boost competitiveness in the country’s garment industry.

The MoU has been signed to extend the partnership for three years, from January 2017 to December 2019, during which the partners will collaborate to build institutional sustainability of the programme. With the MoU in force, Cambodia has agreed to contribute approximately 25 per cent to the BFC’s budget over the next three years while international garment buyers sourcing from Cambodia who use the ILO BFC programme assessment reports and factories that participate in BFC training courses will contribute to programme operation based on fees for services rendered.

The BFC program will continue to assess working conditions in garment factories based on Cambodian labour law and internationally recognised core labour standards and to report on its findings publicly by detailing compliance and non-compliance of individual factories. BFC will also work with the Ministry of Labour to implement a joint strategy and action plan with the objective to support government’s capacity and ownership to uphold compliance with labour law and make necessary changes in the garment sector.

BFC is part of the Better Work Program, a collaboration between the ILO and the IFC which operates across three continents to catalyse change along global supply chains in the garment industry, the work of BFC will be an integral part, in the recently signed, Cambodia Decent Work Country Programme. In all, the MoU has been renewed five times by the parties since the ILO BFC programme began in 2001.