The Vietnamese Government should continue to strengthen cooperation with Japan in regard to high-quality human resource training and assist official development assistance (ODA) projects in this field while helping bridge workforce supply and demand.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Binh, a specialist at the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs’ General Directorate of Vocational Training, said it is necessary to accelerate links between Japanese businesses and Vietnamese vocational training institutions.

“It is also important for both sides to work together to sharpen worker skills and gradually recognize the professional skills of workers in each other’s country,” she told a discussion on education and training and human resources cooperation held within the framework of the “Meet Japan 2023” conference on November 2.

According to Ms. Binh, the General Directorate of Vocational Training will continue to implement ODA projects with Japan as well as the KOSEN model, which has been applied in Japan since the 1960s and connects high-quality workforce training with enterprises to ensure that all graduates have employment.

“The workforce from Brazil currently represents the largest number of overseas workers in Shiga Prefecture, but in the not-too-distant future the workforce from Vietnam will outnumber them and take the lead,” said Mr. Mori Yasuhiro, Director of the Industrial Human Resources Development Promotion Office at the prefecture’s Department of Trade, Industry, Tourism and Labor.

According to Mr. Yasuhiro, there were 23,000 foreign workers in Shiga Prefecture in 2022, including 6,000 from Vietnam.