The workshop, which was held by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA), the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and the Japanese Embassy in Vietnam, discussed Vietnam-Japan cooperation in labour and social security on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
Speaking at the event, MOLISA Deputy Minister Le Van Thanh shared that labour cooperation between the two countries began in 1992 with the Japanese reception of Vietnamese interns.
"As of December 2022, the total number of Vietnamese people living and working in Japan was estimated at 345,000," he said, adding that Vietnam is now the largest provider of foreign workers to Japan.
Deputy director of the Department of Overseas Labour, Pham Viet Huong, said that Vietnam led the 15 countries that are sending interns to Japan.
"The number of Vietnamese interns in Japan has increased eightfold in the past six years, from 10,000 in 2013 to 82,700 in 2019," Huong said. "Japan has received a total of over 400,000 Vietnamese interns over the past three decades."
At the workshop, Vietnamese officials spoke highly of Japan’s cooperation and support in employment, for example, Japan’s support for Vietnam to complete a vocational skill evaluation system to develop high-quality human resources in Vietnam.
They also proposed Japan expand the fields for Vietnamese interns to some other professions including hotels and restaurants, transportation and construction.
Deputy Ambassador of Japan to Vietnam Watanabe Shige also said that the number of Vietnamese workers in Japan has increased tenfold over the past decade.
"Vietnamese workers are hard-working and have made a big contribution to the socio-economic development of Japan," he said.
Vietnam and Japan officially established diplomatic ties in 1973. Vietnam started sending labourers to Japan in 1992 under between 3-5 years of programmes with an average monthly income of between USD 1,200-1,400.