On September 9, 2013, JITCO held a regular discussion with Vietnam’s Department of Overseas Labour (DOLAB), part of the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.
JITCO reported that, since this year is the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Vietnam, they were holding a joint seminar in Ho Chi Minh in cooperation with the Consulate General of Japan in Ho Chi Minh, with Japanese companies in attendance. They said that acceptance numbers from Vietnam were on the rise. JITCO also said that in tandem with those increasing numbers, the number of runaways may rise, too, so in order to prevent runaways Vietnam should boost the utilization of returnees. They said that to maintain the good reputation that technical intern trainees from Vietnam have earned in Japan, it would be good moving forward to prioritize quality over quantity. They stated their desire to continue the good cooperative ties between the two countries.
DOLAB said the sending of Vietnamese technical intern trainees was steadily increasing and that they were happy about nearing their target of 10,000. As reasons for this, they said that after the recent earthquake, the Vietnamese government issued a policy of cooperating with the Japanese people to find solutions, and also that they had instructed sending organizations to improve the quality of the technical intern trainees. DOLAB explained that it was cooperating with sending organizations in working to provide job placement support for returnees, and that the penalties for people who cause trouble overseas had been bolstered. In addition, they expressed concern about the fact that the management expense allowance provided for sending technical intern trainees has been declining, and the burden on sending organizations was increasing.
After the joint seminar on September 10, 2013 (Note: Seminar report has been posted separately), on September 11th JITCO officials accompanied supervising organizations that participated in the seminar and expressed interest on a visit to an industrial park and a Japanese company in the suburbs of Ho Chi Minh.
At the Long Duc Industrial Park, they received a briefing about the industrial park by associate manager Hiroyuki Saito and others and toured a rental plant , etc. inside the park grounds. At TAZMO Vietnam Co., Ltd., they were briefed by General Director Kazuhisa Fukuo about plant management in Vietnam, in particular labor conditions, and they toured the inside of the factory.

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  2nd from left on left: DOLAB Deputy Head, Le Van Thanh