JITCO

Annual Meeting: Contact Officials from the Government of Myanmar

On July 7, 2009, JITCO officials held an annual consultation meeting with the representatives of the Myanmarese Department of Labor (DOL).

JITCO provided an overview of the newly revised training program.  A new visa category, technical internship, has been added to the program, which allows trainees to be paid according to their labor contracts after two months of group training courses.  In the current system, trainees are provided training allowance in their first year of training.  Also with the new visa status, trainees will be better protected under labor related regulations.

JITCO then reported on incidents where Myanmarese trainees and technical interns left the training and later applied for refugee status.  Informing about the current situation in Japan, JITCO assured DOL that the treatment of their trainees and interns would improve with the commencement of the new training program.  In the past, the unsatisfactory condition of the training environment was the reason trainees had left the training program.  JITCO also explained that a new system is being developed to assist trainees and technical interns who have concerns.  JITCO asked DOL for increased supervision of sending organizations in order to make improvement over the current conditions.

DOL welcomed the program revisions and the improvements in accepting conditions.  DOL also expressed the intention to increase supervision of sending organizations.

Vice Minister Tin Tun Aung (left, back) at the Meeting