AEC Feed

Vietnam’s participation in the Asean Economic Community (AEC) will create 14.5 per cent more jobs by 2025, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) found in a survey.
Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Doan Mau Diep said at a workshop yesterday in Hanoi that the AEC, formed on December 31 last year, will help energise the bloc’s labour market and job creation in each member nation.
A considerable benefit from the AEC is the free movement of skilled labour. Through mutual agreements, the 10 Asean countries have allowed labourers in eight professions (doctors, dentists, nurses, accountants, surveyors, architects, engineers and tourism) to seek employment freely within the bloc. The number of professions could increase in the near future.
However, due to the current development gap, skillful labourers tend to move to more developed countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. Most of the remaining workers seeking jobs in the other nations have low qualifications, posing challenges for Vietnam in developing, stablising and managing the domestic labour market, Diep said.
According to the ILO survey, Asean businesses are concerned about a shortage of skilled labour after the AEC’s establishment. About 50 per cent of Asean employers said that neither manual workers nor those with university degrees satisfied qualification requirements.
Facing that, government agencies, policy makers and enterprises must pay special attention to improving human resources’ competitiveness, supporting the free flow of skilled labour and managing overseas workers, workshop participants said.
To share prosperity and ensure better employment, many attendees stressed the need to promote connectivity within and outside of Asean, effectively shift economic and labour structures, capitalise on competitive edges, improve manpower quality, and deftly manage the labour market.
Additionally, it is necessary to fine-tune legal documents to protect employment for Vietnamese labourers, and effectively use foreign workers with high qualifications. Deputy director of the labour ministry’s Employment Department Le Quang Trung urged the enhancement of law dissemination and co-ordination among State agencies in foreign worker management. –Viet Nam News

Hanoi aims to welcome about 21.2 million tourists this year
Hanoi plans to receive approximately 21.2 million tourists in 2016, up 6.95 per cent from last year.
 The figure includes 3.8 million foreigners and 17.4 million domestic tourists. Together, they are expected to generate more than 60 trillion dong (Bt97.5 billion) for the municipal tourism sector, up 8.11 per cent compared to last year.
To realise the targets, the city will boost tourism promotions and connection at home and abroad, with a focus on key markets such as France, the UK, Germany, the US, China, Japan, the South Korea and Indonesia.
The sector will participate in the 15th annual meeting of the Council for Promoting Tourism in Asia (CPTA) and the Tourism Promotion Organisation for Asia Pacific Cities (TPO), while promoting bilateral cooperation programmes with CPTA member cities and organising travel fairs in foreign countries.
The capital came fourth on the list of the world’s top 25 travel destinations in the 2015 Travellers’ Choice Awards named by prestigious travel website TripAdvisor.
Lonely Planet, the world’s most popular travel guide, has listed Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City came in second in the top 10 best-value destinations for 2016 as they have “that most magical of price brackets” for budget travellers. Foreign visitors only need around $20 per day for food, lodging and sightseeing in the two cities.
The two metropolises were also named among the top five best cities for low-budget vacations in 2015 by Dr Prem, a renowned travel and tourism website. The rankings were based on average daily expenditure on food, accommodation and transportation. - Viet Nam News

Indonesia to promote coffee tourism in Norway
Indonesian coffee tour packages are set to be promoted at Norway’s largest tourism fair, Reiselivsmessen, on January 15-17. “The event aims to introduce Indonesia’s high-quality coffee beans from local farmers to Norwegian coffee lovers,” the Indonesian Embassy in Oslo’s first secretary, Hartyo Harkomoyo, told Antara news agency on Thursday.
Tours slated to be promoted at the event include the Java Coffee Lover package and Yogyakarta Coffee and Heritage package in Central Java; Orangutans, Coffee and The Lake package in Sumatra; Coffee Lover Adventure package in Bali; and East Sumba Tour package in East Nusa Tenggara.
“We hope that through the crafted tour packages, coffee lovers will understand more about the coffee production process, from planting, harvesting and roasting the beans to brewing, in order to build appreciation and awareness of Indonesian coffee farmers and coffee’s places of origin,” Hartyo said.
Coffee cupping sessions are set to be offered at the Indonesian booth to allow visitors to experience the taste and aroma of the archipelago’s various coffees.
Partnering with the Norwegian Tourism Association, the Indonesian Embassy will also hold a session to present the |coffee tour packages to the country’s travel agents and |writers.
According to Indonesian Ambassador to Norway Yuwono A Putranto, the campaign was part of the embassy’s efforts to promote Indonesia’s natural tourism and to give Indonesian products the opportunity to penetrate the Norwegian |market.
He explained coffee was an integral part of Norwegian social life, while coffee origins, flavors, natural conditions and farmers’ welfare were of great importance to coffee lovers.
Among Indonesia’s coffee beans that will be showcased at the festival are Gunung Arjuna Arabica from Java Aroma Coffee, Garut Arabica from Mahkota Coffee, Java Preanger Arabica from Hikmah Farm and Mandhaeling Arabica from Green Indonesia.
Norway is considered a potential tourism market for Indonesia because of Norwegian people’s avid traveling tradition and high tourist expenses compared to travelers from other EU countries and worldwide.
Reiselivsmessen reportedly attracts over 45,000 visitors from the Scandinavian region and around the globe each year.
The event regularly promotes thousands of travel packages from over 120 countries. –The Jakarta Post