Signatories to the MoU were representatives from the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs and the International Manpower Development Organization (IM Japan).

The new MoU will seek to expand the criteria selection for interns who participate in the scheme and will greatly improve their benefits. Candidates in the programme will range between 18 and 30 years old as opposed to 20-30 years old previously. They are expected to supply an additional young and dynamic workforce and contribute to resolving employment issues locally.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Minister Dao Ngoc Dung revealed that from 2006 to the present, more than 7,734 interns have been dispatched to Japan under an agreement signed between the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs and IM Japan.

According to Dung, employees participating in the scheme pay no service fees, only pay individual fees (for visa granting and medical examinations), and receive support in terms of tuition and dormitory fees during the training.

The MoU will open up opportunities for those who reside in poor and disadvantaged households in rural, remote, and isolated areas to access the programme, stressed Minister Dung.

He recalled that many labourers who joined the programme have now returned home, successfully set up production establishments and lived on their own,  

For his part, Kanamori Hitoshi, president of IM Japan, proposed that the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs co-ordinate to expand the Special Skilled Workers Programme in the future.

Source: VOV