Hanoi (VNA) – The Vietnamese Embassy in Greece organised a seminar and business connectivity activities in Athens and Thessaloniki from December 11–15 in an effort to boost cooperation in the labour field between Vietnam and Greece.
The seminar, held on December 11 and jointly organised by the Vietnamese Embassy and Greek company WorkInGreece, drew more than 130 Greek participants, including representatives of companies and enterprises seeking labourers in such fields as restaurants, hotels, manufacturing, agriculture, as well as employers, law consultancy firms, universities, and Greek media agencies.
Representing Vietnam were 12 labour-supplying companies with experience in providing Vietnamese workers for overseas markets, including Greece.
In her opening remarks, Vietnamese Ambassador to Greece Pham Thi Thu Huong stressed that the event took place as the two countries are celebrating the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations. The seminar demonstrated the determination and efforts of the Vietnamese Embassy to turn labour cooperation - a highly potential yet underexploited field - into a more substantive and effective pillar of the bilateral ties, thereby contributing to stronger economic cooperation, she said.
Huong said that in June 2025, on the sidelines of the third United Nations Ocean Conference in France, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh agreed with his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s proposal that Greece stands ready to receive skilled Vietnamese workers.
The Ambassador also outlined Vietnam’s socio-economic development goals towards 2030 with a vision to 2045, as well as the country’s strategy to develop a highly skilled and technical workforce to meet new development requirements. The Vietnamese Government is actively promoting the deployment of Vietnamese workers overseas, particularly to European markets, including Greece, she noted.
According to statistics from the Department of Overseas Labour under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Vietnam has sent nearly 160,000 workers abroad annually in recent years. Currently, around 800,000 Vietnamese workers are employed in 40 countries and territories across more than 30 occupational groups.
Europe is regarded as a key market with strong demand for foreign labourers. In Greece alone, approximately 1,300 Vietnamese workers have arrived since late 2023. To facilitate cooperation, relevant agencies of both sides are negotiating and promoting the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two governments on labour supply./.
