Vietnam has sent 36 competitors to the 8 th ASEAN Skills Competition being held in Bangkok , Thailand from Nov. 14-24.

Competing in 18 of 21 events, the Vietnamese team hopes to rank third at the competition.

Last September, the General Vocational Training Department in coordination with the British Council held a training course for those Vietnamese competitors under the instruction of four experts from the vocational skills organisation of the UK . The British experts said the Vietnamese workers have good skills.

The Lao dong (Labour) daily on Nov. 16 quoted Mark Forsyth, Director of the Corioliss International Co., and an expert in refrigerating-electrics as saying that Vietnamese competitors are enthusiastic and determined and have good basic skills. He said he believed that they would attain good results.

Deputy Minister of Labour, War Invalid and Social Affairs Dam Huu Dac said that participating in the competition gives Vietnamese competitors and trainers opportunities to learn experiences from other countries, thus helping improve the quality of vocational training in Vietnam .

The ASEAN Skills Competition has been held since 1997 and Vietnam took part in the event in 2001 for the first time.

Vietnam ranked first among participating teams at the 2004 and 2006 events, ranked second at the 2002 competition, and ranked fourth in 2001 and 2008./.