VOVNews interviewed Nguyen Luong Trao, the Chairman of the Vietnam Labour Export Association (VLEA), about the issue.

VOVNews: The global economy is gradually recovering this year and this is a good sign for local labour export businesses. What can you tell us about Vietnam’s labour exports in the first half of this year?

Mr Trao: The world economy has recovered so slowly and it is not strong enough to restore the labour export markets. However, there is an increasing demand for guest workers in the post-crisis era.

In the past five months, Vietnam has sent nearly 30,000 workers abroad, up 5 percent over the same period last year. In May alone, more than 6,400 guest workers were recruited to work overseas, three times higher than last May. The country’s key labour export markets include North-east Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and South East Asia.

Vietnam’s labour export businesses are looking for new contracts and introducing new measures to safeguard guest workers.

VOVNews: The VLEA has put together training programmes for guest workers before they are sent abroad. Can you tell us more about these programmes?

Mr Trao: Training is important to increase guest workers’ awareness of working overseas, as well as their knowledge of their individual host country’s labour regulations. If the quality of Vietnamese guest workers improves, they will have more opportunities to work abroad.

The VLEA is, therefore, eager to improve workers’ skills through training and retraining in line with Power Point lessons designed by senior managers.

Currently, there are training courses for those who are about to work in Taiwan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Lybia.

VOVNews: 2010 is the last year of this labour programme. Do you believe there will be a breakthrough that can help us meet the programme's target?

Mr Trao: Vietnamese labour export businesses have encountered various difficulties caused by the global economic crisis, which has had a negative impact not only on global economic development, but also in the labour market. Foreign labour markets have shrunk as many countries are tightening their policies on guest workers.

In this context, Vietnam’s labour exports are not as successful as predicted before the crisis, despite recent positive signs of global economic recovery.

In order to meet this year’s target, businesses need to make a greater effort when solving problems and look for better business contracts. They also need to convince workers who are willing to seek employment opportunities abroad by explaining the benefits of working overseas to them.

VOVNews: Thank you.