JITCO

Joint Seminar with Sending Organizations in Vietnam

July 2006
Japan International Training Cooperation Organization

JITCO has been hosting a joint seminar from last year with the aim for the certified sending organizations and accepting organizations to strengthen mutual cooperation through information exchange and improve training and technical internship results. The first seminar for this year was held with Vietnam at Keidanren Kaikan on July 10, 2007. The total of 212 members participated in the event including 21 members from Department of Overseas Labour, Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, Vietnam, including the Vice President and representatives from Vietnam Embassy in Japan, 72 members from 32 sending organizations, 102 members from 66 accepting organizations (both existing and new organizations interested in receiving trainees from Vietnam) and shared their information on their current activities. The program overview is as follows.

On the day before the seminar, MoM&T and JITCO discussed measures for strengthening the certified sending organizations, solving run-away issues and providing support for returnees. MoM&T reported that the number of run-away temporarily decreased after they laid out following measures including (1) applying fine or cancelling the certification for those sending organizations with great number of run-away trainees, (2) interviewing trainees' parents, and (3) not dispatching trainees from the region with high rate of run-away. Also, they declared to define strict processes for certifying and evaluating sending organizations and to cooperate with local administrations and Indonesian Embassy in Japan to solve the run-away trainee problem.

JITCO's keynote presentation:
JITCO made presentation toward Vietnamese officials, sending/accepting organizations on the following 5 items.
1. Request for thorough understanding on the aim of the Industrial Training and Technical Internship Program.
2. The need for appropriate measures to reduce run-away trainee problem (despite Vietnamese trainees and interns' reputation is very high, the number of accepted trainees/interns remains unchanged due to run-away problem).
3. JITCO's attitude to carefully monitor how the Vietnamese government ordinance on management of Vietnamese citizens working overseas ("Ordinance", hereafter) will work out.
4. The need to provide enriched pre-dispatch training in order for the trainees/interns to acquire Japanese (hiragana, katakana, and safety terms).
5. The importance of related organizations to urge trainees/interns to consult with JITCO contact desk whenever they face any problem.

Vietnamese government's keynote presentation
1. The Vietnamese government signed the agreement with JITCO in 1992 and sent the total of 20,000 trainees through Technical Internship Program. Recently, about 3,000 trainees are dispatched to Japan.
2. Presentation on trainee dispatch system in Vietnam and government ordinance enforced in November 2006.
(1) In order for a sending organization to dispatch trainees to Japan, it must submit the detailed information on the contract that will be concluded with the trainees to DOLAB and obtain permission. DOLAB will conduct screening based on the related ordinance in Vietnam and Japan and will not permit any contract that violates the regulations. Also, pre-dispatch group training must be provided for about 4 months (Japanese language, related regulations in Vietnam and Japan, lifestyle in Japan). The cost is born by the accepting organization.
(2) Under the ordinance, if any trainee/intern does not return to Vietnam even when the training period is completed or if he/she urges or helps others to run-away, it would be considered as violation of Vietnamese criminal code and criminal liability will be investigated based on the appropriate procedure.
3. In addition, leader will be appointed from the dispatched group in order to act as a coordinator between sending and accepting organizations while in Japan. Also, the sending organizations will provide information on the dispatched trainees/interns to their families and will exchange information.

Moreover, two sending and accepting organizations reported on the current situation and their activities. As the closing, free discussion was held on the details of the seminar.