The Association for International Manpower Development of Medium and Small Enterprises (IMM Japan) will continue receiving Vietnamese trainees for a one-year technical intern training programme at its member companies and plants.

An agreement to the effect was signed in Japan on Aug. 26 by visiting Vietnamese Minister of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan and IMM Japan President Kyoei Yanagisawa.

Under the programme, Vietnamese trainees do not have to pay any fees during their training time and receive around 2,000 USD each from IMM Japan.

Minister Ngan said that Vietnamese trainees’ technical knowledge and work-ethic have been raised after their training time in Japan .

She said she hoped the Japanese economy would recover soon and Japan would continue receiving more Vietnamese trainees.

For his part, IMM Japan President Yanagisawa said that although the choice of professions for the one-year technical intern training programme are limited compared with the three-year programme, his association hoped to receive more Vietnamese trainees.

IMM Japan has received 501 Vietnamese trainees to practice and work for three years at its member companies and plants since Jan. 2006. Fourteen of them completed their training in early January of this year.

Apart from cooperation with the ministry, since 2008, IMM Japan has also welcomed a number of Vietnamese high-school students to Japan as part of an exchange programme./.