A document to this effect was signed in Hanoi on August 15 by Huynh Thi Nhan, Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs of Vietnam and Guenter Riethmacher, Country Director of the German Technical Cooperation Agency (GTZ).

The first phase of the Vietnam Vocational Education Support Project, worth 480,000 EUR, was implemented at nine vocational schools and two technological teachers' universities on June 1, 2006 and will be completed on December 31, 2006.

An agreement for the second phase worth about 5 million EUR with 3 million EUR to be funded by Germany will be signed next year.

The project aims to improve the capacity of vocational schools through providing training, both at home and abroad, for their teachers and management employees.