The government will focus on Middle East labor markets, as the region has a high demand for labor, provides stable payments and offers good working conditions, said a spokesperson for the Overseas Worker Management Department on March 13.

It is still difficult for the country to meet the demands of workers in the Middle East as they only require skilled workers.

The Department said it will concentrate on vocational training this year in order to exploit labor markets in the region.

Sending more workers to the region will help reduce pressure from other areas, said the spokesperson.

Newspapers in the Arab Gulf reported last week that Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani recently told Vietnamese counterpart, Nguyen Tan Dung, that Qatar would recruit more Vietnamese workers.

This January, the two nations signed an agreement that aims to boost the number of Vietnamese workers in Qatar to 100,000 within three years.

A report by the Department showed that since January it has sent 17,700 overseas, among them 6,200 have gone to the Middle East, 2,900 to Taiwan (China) and 2,800 to South Korea.

Many businesses have failed and laid-off thousands of employees due to the economic crisis, as such Vietnam’s labor exports have faced many challenges. Over 4,000 workers have returned home early.

Source: CPV