 |
| Delegates at the conference (Photo: VSS) |
The dialogue created an opportunity for Japanese businesses to better grasp Vietnam's legal regulations on social security, social insurance, and health insurance. It was also a venue for Japanese investors to raise their opinions to help improve policies on social insurance, thus facilitating stable business, long-term investment, and workers' rights in Vietnam.
Speaking at the event, VSS Director General Nguyen The Manh said that Japan is currently the most important economic partner of Vietnam, the largest provider of ODA development aid to Vietnam; is a foreign direct investor (FDI) with more than 5,000 investment projects with a total capital of nearly 70.97 billion USD. There are currently more than 2,100 enterprises with 547,100 employees participating in social insurance, including 545,500 Vietnamese workers and 1,600 foreign workers; Social insurance revenue accounts for more than 13% of total revenue of FDI enterprises in Vietnam.
As of September 2023, the VSS is serving over 92 million health insurance participants and 17.5 million social insurance participants, accounting for nearly 40% of the workforce in Vietnam, he added.
He said that during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, despite difficulties, Japanese firms took measures to stabilize production and retain workers, which made important contributions to the country’s socioeconomic recovery and development.
“The majority of Japanese businesses strictly follow Vietnam’s legal regulations, particularly those relating to social insurance and health insurance,” he said.
Vietnam and Japan are preparing negotiations toward a bilateral agreement on social insurance. "This is a milestone between the two countries for cooperation on social security", he said.
Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Yamada Takio emphasized that the relationship between the two countries has developed better than ever in the fields of politics, culture and economics.
A recent JETRO survey of parent companies in Japan shows that Vietnam is the second country after the US that Japanese businesses want to invest more in. To large Japanese enterprises, Vietnam is the first destination they want to invest in, he said.
The ambassador said that with increasing investment in Vietnam, Japanese companies are required to understand and implement the host country's social insurance regulations and policies.
As Vietnam is amending its Social Insurance Law, changes to Vietnam's social insurance system will have a huge impact on investment trends from Japanese companies. Therefore, the ambassador said that he hopes those that compile the laws will listen to business opinions so the amended law will meet the needs of both employers and employees.
At the conference, delegates were informed about the results and situation of participating in social insurance and health insurance of Japanese businesses; the implementation of public services and application of information technology in the field of social insurance and health insurance; Status of implementation of Decree No. 143/2018/ND-CP detailing the implementation of the Law on Social Insurance and the Law on Occupational Safety and Health on compulsory social insurance for employees who are foreign citizens working in Vietnam
On this occasion, VSS launched the Japanese version of its app VssID which is expected to help Japanese employees in participating in social insurance and health insurance programs./.