On the afternoon of October 31, local time, in the capital Doha, during his official visit to the State of Qatar, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh received Mr. Ali bin Saeed bin Samikh Al Marri, Minister of Labor of Qatar.
At the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that he had a successful meeting with the King, Prime Minister and Speaker of the Qatari Parliament with many outstanding results, agreeing on a number of specific orientations and measures to further enhance the effectiveness of bilateral cooperation in the coming time, and agreed to set a goal of soon upgrading Vietnam - Qatar relations to a new level, including in the field of labor.
The Prime Minister assessed that labor cooperation is a traditional field of cooperation, which is of great interest to leaders of both sides. Vietnam has strengths and Qatar has needs, and the two sides can complement each other.
The Prime Minister suggested that the two sides continue to promote labor cooperation in a more in-depth, sustainable, stable and systematic manner, promote negotiations on a labor agreement and sign it at an appropriate time; and said that he would soon send the Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs to visit and discuss specifically with Qatar.
The Prime Minister requested the Minister to promote, cooperate and support the construction of training centers for Vietnamese workers before they go to work in Qatar, which plays an important role in improving the skills, qualifications, cultural and legal understanding of workers.
The Prime Minister hopes that relevant ministries and sectors of the two countries will take drastic actions to implement the agreements of high-ranking leaders in the spirit of "what is said must be done, what is committed must be done, what is done must bring about measurable results".
For his part, Minister Ali bin Saeed bin Samikh Al Marri expressed his delight that during the meetings and talks during this visit, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Qatari leaders agreed on directions to promote cooperation in various fields, including the field of labor.
The Minister assessed that labor cooperation between the two countries has achieved many results, but the potential is still very large, the number of Vietnamese workers in Qatar is still modest (nearly 1,000 people). Qatar has a great demand for foreign workers, ready to promote cooperation, receiving workers from Vietnam - a country with 100 million people, abundant, young, highly skilled labor force.
The Minister said that the two sides signed an agreement on regulations for recruiting Vietnamese workers to work in Qatar (in 2008) and that in the next 7-8 years, Qatar will need a lot of workers in the fields of hotels, restaurants, healthcare, education, transportation, etc.
Committing to speeding up the negotiation and signing of agreements between the two countries and sending more Vietnamese workers to Qatar, the Minister said he welcomed his Vietnamese counterpart to visit and work to discuss and promote cooperation, bringing about concrete results.
The Minister agreed with the Prime Minister on the importance of building labor training centers in Vietnam; suggested that both sides discuss and coordinate with the International Labor Organization (ILO) to implement the construction of these centers.
