Despite increasing number of countries competing in the garment export business, the United States was still the key buyer and the main market for Cambodian garment and textile industry, said the Minister of Labor Lth Sam Heng after a meeting with US ambassador William Hiedt at the ministry on Wednesday.

Mr Sam Heng said that the United States’ market is still very important for them. Although it is now the second biggest importing market after the European market, it is still big and worth billions of dollars. So they are still trying to work well with buyers from the United States and get to place more orders to them.

Mr. Sam Heng said that the ambassador raised the issue of imports during a discussion about the union law, saying the law should be implemented fairly among concerned parties in the interests of the industry.

There are just a few issues about the implementation of the union law of concern and they are required to carry it out fairly with all trade unions and no discrimination. They think that the law is in line with the interests of employees and employers as well as the investment climate of their country. And they will try their best to implement it.

According to data from the United States Trade Office, total exports to the US dipped about 3 percent in the first quarter of the year to more than $706 million compared with $725 million in the same period last year.

Seung Sophari, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) said that the slight drop in exports to the US in the first quarter was mainly due to the current electoral campaigns in the US and the rise of new exporting countries like Myanmar. However, she was optimistic that the figures will improve soon.

Ulrika Isaksson, a spokeswoman for Swedish retailer H&M, said that the company had been checking the law since it was drafted because of concerns by workers, trade unions and NGOs. The International Labor Organization (ILO) has warned the legislation may violate local law and breach international conventions signed by the government.

They are at the moment analyzing the new law and can’t go into details except that they now need to look closely at how this will affect their ongoing work on strengthening industrial relations and ensuring that freedom of association and the right to organize is respected throughout their supply chain in Cambodia. .

According to figures from the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia, the garment and footwear industry plays a critical role in the economy, representing 70 percent of total exports and employing more than 700,000 workers. The total exports from the sector were worth $6.3 billion last year, a slight increase of 7.6 percent from the previous year,

Cambodia is now the US’s 70th largest goods trading partner with $3.0 billion in total between the two countries, the US’s 129th largest goods export market and also the US’s 60th largest supplier of imported goods in 2013, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative.