Vietnam looks to encourage sending citizens to Taiwan (China), Malaysia,and the Republic of Korea (RoK) to work as domestic workers, and toJapan and Germany to work as orderlies and nurses, in 2015. It plans toexport 100,000 workers for the year.

Minister of Labour, Invalidsand Social Affairs Pham Thi Hai Chuyen said Vietnam’s key markets forguest workers are Taiwan, Japan, the RoK, Malaysia, and Saudi Arabia.

Datafrom the ministry’s Overseas Labour Management Department showed thatcompared to 2013, the number of Vietnamese guest workers sent to Taiwanincreased from 46,000 to 60,000 with the number in Japan rising from9,600 to 20,000 in 2014.

A total of 7,000 guestworkers were sent to the RoK, 5,000 to Malaysia, and 4,000 to SaudiArabia, and 1,000 to Qatar. Compared to 2013, the number of workers inthese four markets dropped by about 5,000.

Thailand hasbegun to stand out as a promising market, with agreements between thetwo nations to coordinate their labour exports in 2015.

Meanwhile,existing problems with guest workers between Vietnam and Taiwan areexpected to be resolved this year, as the system returns to fullfunction after the lift of the Chinese territory’s suspension onreceiving Vietnamese labourers, she noted.

Responding to reportsof mistreatment in the Middle East, the official said the region is agood market with about 16,000 Vietnamese labourers, including 4,000domestic workers.

She explained these markets havespecific regulations, and some of the recruitment companies did not helplabourers prepare adequately, causing several workers fail in theirattempts to adapt to the local environment.

The ministry workedwith the Vietnamese Embassy in Saudi Arabia to resolve the issues,including examining recruitment businesses to ensure proper operation.-VNA