Vietnamese workers will have many opportunities to work in other countries in 2010 as the demand for foreign workers has picked up.

Dao Cong Hai, Deputy Head of the Overseas Labour Management Department said that traditional markets like Malaysia , Taiwan and Japan plan to take on a large number of foreign workers.

In addition, said the official, new markets including Libya , the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other countries in the Middle East see increased demand for foreign workers.

The department is working with the Foreign Ministry and businesses to send workers overseas.

The Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs has opened up offices to manage workers at the Vietnamese Embassies in Libya and the UAE as well as researching the market and supporting Vietnamese enterprises and workers.

The department plans to continue training workers in order to improve their skills and foreign languages to meet the demands of employers abroad.

The department has granted licences to seven enterprises to take part in a project to train construction workers and medics to go overseas. Under this project, these enterprises will train over 1,850 workers in various skills requested by companies in Libya , Ukraine , Arab Saudi, the UAE and Laos .

In 2009, the country sent only 75,000 workers to work abroad, 17 percent lower than the set target due to the global economic crisis.

Taiwan , Japan , the Republic of Korea and the Middle East are the major markets for Vietnamese workers./.