Vietnam seeks deeper labour cooperation with Europe

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Thi Thu Hang speaks at the event (Photo: dantri.com.vn)

In her speech, Hang said the October 11 event aims to provide an overview of Vietnam-Europe labour cooperation, pinpoint opportunities and challenges, and elevate the labour sector's role within the broader framework of the bilateral relations between Vietnam and each European partner.

Hoan described Europe as a prime market with high income, scio-political stability, and robust ties with Vietnam. He reaffirmed Vietnam's policy of sending workers abroad to develop its workforce and improve their skills.

Representatives from European embassies in Hanoi noted high demand for skilled Vietnamese workers and expressed readiness to support the country in workforce training. They also highlighted stable wage policies and numerous labour incentives in Europe.

However, labour supply companies voiced concerns about several obstacles, including a lack of information regarding the European labour market, the relatively low expertise and skills of Vietnamese workers compared to European standards, as well as geographical distance, language and culture barriers, and fierce competition from other countries.

Vietnamese embassies in Europe stressed the need to accelerate the signing of bilateral labour agreements to create a solid legal framework for cooperation. Currently, only Germany and Romania have such agreements, while other countries lack comprehensive cooperation or have limited agreements between individual companies without specific government regulations.

The participants raised proposals to have a new approach so as to improve the efficiency of sending Vietnamese workers to Europe and promote labour cooperation between Vietnam and European countries./.