HCM
CITY (VNS)
— The ASEAN Economic Community to be
established next year is expected to enable free movement of goods, capital,
and skilled labour, a seminar heard in HCM City yesterday.
Le
Trieu Dung, deputy general director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's
Multilateral Trade Policy Department, said trade between Viet Nam and ASEAN
member countries has expanded rapidly in recent years to top US$40.1 billion
last year.
The
establishment of the AEC would bring more choices of goods and services to
Vietnamese consumers and enable Vietnamese companies to expand exports to ASEAN
countries because their goods would have zero duty, he said.
It
would facilitate mobility of skilled labour within the bloc via mutual
recognition arrangements (MRAs), a key tool that enables skilled, experienced
professionals to work and ultimately be certified in a destination country, he
said.
Jae Hee
Chang, a specialist on employers' activities at the Bangkok-based International
Labour Organisation (ILO), said "MRAs aim to promote mobility of skilled
professionals, attract regional talents to meet staffing shortages, boost
regional competitiveness, and improve the quality of services throughout
ASEAN."
Under
ASEAN MRAs, eight categories of professionals – in medicine, dentistry,
nursing, accounting, surveying, engineering, architecture, and tourism — would
be able to move freely within the region, she said.
She
said an ILO survey of regional employers on skills and competitiveness, which
polled 240 firms in 10 countries, found that "most enterprises are
optimistic that greater labour mobility, lower trade barriers, and free
investment flows will boost their competitiveness, but few understand the AEC
fully and many are not ready to capitalise on the opportunities."
It
showed that skill gaps are a major concern across the region since companies
find it hard to recruit personnel with the skills they need, she said.
"The
biggest challenge is that not a lot of enterprises are aware of the MRAs, and,
without this awareness, trying to source people from other countries might be a
little bit more difficult.
"In
ASEAN right now a lot of low-skilled and medium-skilled labour is going out and
coming in."
For
Viet Nam, the importance of upgrading the skills of the workforce is very
important, she said.
It is
vital for Viet Nam and other ASEAN members to find a common language that
everybody can use, especially for education and also at the workplace, because
without a common language or harmonisation of thinking, it is very difficult to
exchange people and ensure labour mobility, she warned.
"The
language barrier and culture barrier are very important to address."
There
is a need for more engagement by companies with the MRAs and in particular the
ASEAN Qualifications Reference Framework, she said, adding that they should be
more active in having dialogues with the Government and education organisations
to reform training curriculums.
Ngo
Dinh Duc, general director of HR company Le & Associates, said skilled
workers would have more choices in the future, but they must equip themselves
with good English speaking skills and improve their productivity and attitude
towards work.
To
retain talent, employers need to build a good image for their company, offer a
good working environment and salaries, bonuses, and welfare policies, and
invest more in human resources development strategies, he said.
The
level of labour integration in ASEAN remained low, Dung said, adding that the
AEC would have a great impact on the labour market in ASEAN, especially Viet
Nam.
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