The seminar, held on December 11 in collaboration with the Greek company WorkInGreece, attracted more than 130 representatives from Greek companies and organisations operating in the hospitality, manufacturing, agriculture, and service sectors, as well as employers, legal consulting firms, universities, and Greek media outlets.

The event saw the participation of 12 labour-supplying enterprises with extensive experience in sending Vietnamese workers abroad, including to the Greek market.

In her opening remarks, Vietnamese Ambassador to Greece Pham Thi Thu Huong noted that the seminar demonstrated the Embassy’s strong commitment to promoting labour cooperation, an area with significant potential yet still underutilised, toward a more substantive and effective direction, thereby contributing to the expansion of bilateral economic cooperation.

The Ambassador recalled that during a meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations Ocean Conference in June 2025, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis agreed to strengthen cooperation and expressed readiness to receive skilled Vietnamese workers.

At the seminar, Huong also introduced Vietnam’s socio-economic development goals toward 2030, with a vision to 2045, highlighting the country’s strategy to develop a highly skilled technical workforce to meet development needs in the new context. She reaffirmed that the Vietnamese Government is pursuing a policy of promoting overseas employment in a sustainable and high-quality manner, with Europe in general and Greece in particular identified as promising markets.

According to statistics from the Department of Overseas Labour Management under Vietnam’s Ministry of Home Affairs, Vietnam sends nearly 160,000 workers abroad each year. Currently, around 800,000 Vietnamese workers are employed in more than 40 countries and territories across over 30 occupational groups.

Europe is regarded as a key destination with strong demand for foreign labour. In Greece alone, approximately 1,300 Vietnamese workers have arrived since late 2023, mainly in the service, manufacturing, and agricultural sectors.

To facilitate bilateral cooperation in this field, relevant agencies of both countries are actively engaging in discussions and negotiations toward signing a Memorandum of Understanding between the two governments on labour cooperation.

This was the first time the Embassy of Vietnam in Greece, in coordination with a Greek partner, has organised a specialised seminar on labour cooperation, aiming to provide businesses with in-depth insights into labour supply markets, policies, and practices in both Greece and Vietnam, while also connecting Greek employers and labour service companies with Vietnamese labour-supplying enterprises.

As part of the programme, from December 12 to 15, the Embassy organised business networking activities in Athens and Thessaloniki, enabling Vietnamese and Greek partners to hold direct discussions on recruitment needs, employment conditions, and potential cooperation in the period ahead.

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