Minister of Labour, Invalid and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung made the proposal during his reception for new Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Ito Naoki in Hanoi on August 15.

Dung hailed Japan as a primary market for Vietnamese nationals to choose to live, study and work, pointing to the fact that approximately 570,000 Vietnamese nationals are now living and working in Japan, more than double the figure in 2016.

With a population of more than 100 million, he said Vietnam has up to 56 million people of working age that is a huge advantage for the country. Currently, many countries have asked Vietnam to provide a large amount of workers to fill in their vacancies.

In the coming time, Vietnam will continue to promote labour cooperation with Japan to maintain the number of its workers coming to work in Japan equivalent to 2023’s figure, said the minister.

According to the minister, the Ministry of Labour, Invalid and Social Affairs of Vietnam has closely coordinated with the Japanese partner in carrying out many programs, such as the Japan Internship Program, the Specified Skilled Workers Program, and the Program to bring Vietnamese orderlies and midwives to work in Japan under the Vietnam - Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (VJEPA).

This represents a positive result, showing that the program of sending and receiving Vietnamese interns and workers to Japan has made remarkable progress, noted the minister.

With regard to the Social Insurance Agreement with Japan, Dung asked the two sides to accelerate negotiations towards signing the document, thereby guaranteeing workers’ interests.

The minister thanked the Japanese Embassy in Vietnam for proactively coordinating with the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs in promoting cooperation between the two countries in the fields of labour, employment, and social welfare, and vowed to support the ambassador to fulfil his task during his working term in Vietnam.

Ambassador Ito for his part said that the Government of Japan has approved a new program that prioritizes protecting the rights of foreigners working in Japan and creating opportunities for workers to work longer, thereby helping to improve the severe shortage of human resources due to the aging population in the country.

He suggested that the Vietnamese side continue to pay attention to human resource training, including the teaching of Japanese, and accelerate the progress of the project “Supporting job information connection for Vietnamese workers working abroad under contract” which is being implemented by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Vietnam and the Department of Overseas Labour Management under the Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

The diplomat revealed that Japanese medical facilities are currently looking to receive more orderlies and midwives from Vietnam under the VJEPA. Although the Japanese side has relaxed some criteria, including reducing the Japanese language training time to three months, the number of candidates participating in this program does not meet the demand.

He also agreed with the minister that the two sides would soon kick-start negotiations of the social insurance agreement.