Experts have stressed the need to provide more services for migrant workers in the context of increasing labour flows not only within the country but also on a global scale.

At a seminar in Hanoi on December 18 on the occasion of the International Migrants Day, Deputy Minister of Labour, War Invalids, and Social Affairs (MoLISA) Nguyen Thanh Hoa said as a country sending a large number of workers abroad, Vietnam has always paid attention to protecting the legitimate rights and interests of its workers.

MOLISA has been working closely with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) and Vietnamese representative offices in other countries as well as joined hands with international organisations to implement projects and programmes to promote safe labour migration.

The ministry, in cooperation with the International Migration Organisation (IMO), is implementing a project to promote safe migration from Vietnam, under which, a pilot office providing migration information has been set up. The office has advised hundreds of people each month about employment opportunities in other countries and local businesses involving in sending workers abroad, as well as working conditions and contracts in specific cases to help reduce risks for potential guest workers.

According to IMO Acting Chief Representative Jobst Koehler, there are almost one billion migrants in the world each year, including 250 million emigrants and the figure is forecast to double in the next three decades.

The Asia-Pacific region witnesses about 30 million people migrating to other countries each year. Vietnam alone has 500,000 labourers go abroad for working every year, who make contributions to the development of the country and their own families.

Participants to the event agreed that to promote safe migration, the dissemination of information on legal labour export should be strengthened, with employment consulting centres playing a greater role in helping potential migrants access information. They also urged that more measures should be taken to improve the effectiveness of migrant worker protection.

On the occasion of the International Migrants Day (December 18), the migration consulting office put into operation a website for overseas workers.-VNA