However, to reach this goal, according to the Foreign Labour Management Department, the country should focus on labour export activities to maintain traditional markets such as Taiwan, Malaysia, the Republic of Korea and Japan and expand new markets including the UK, the US and the Saudi Arabia.

To this effect, immediately from the end of last year, the MoLISA arranged for six business delegations to visit Saudi Arabia, which resulted in the signing of a ministerial-level agreement on labour co-operation.

This agreement has created favourable conditions for Vietnamese enterprises to penetrate new potential markets. In addition, there have been positive signs in labour export activities in the UK. The UK will make a final decision on whether to continue opening the doors to foreign labourers in the next few days. If the UK agrees to recruit foreign labourers, this will be good news for hundreds of Vietnamese guest workers who have been granted visa and labour licenses.

Nguyen Trong Luc, director of the Vinamoto labour export and tourism service company, said that he is waiting for new signals from the Australian market after sending the first batch of 500 Vietnamese guest workers to the country under a trial project.