The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) is expected to submit to the government a plan on Wednesday to ensure safety for Vietnamese workers in Libya, where the fighting situation is escalating.
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On Tuesday afternoon, the MOLISA and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had an urgent meeting with labor exporting companies to discuss measures to ensure safety for about 1,750 Vietnamese guest workers in Libya.
Nguyen Ngoc Quynh, head of the MOLISA’s Department of Overseas Labor Management, said, “As soon as the fighting situation in Libya became worse, the department coordinated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Bureau of Western Asian and African Affairs and the Vietnamese Embassy in following up the situation in order to take timely measures to protect Vietnamese workers in the North African country.”
Fourteen businesses have sent about 1,750 Vietnamese workers to Libya, of whom 211 are in Tripoli, 686 in Misrata, 528 in Al Qubbah, and the remaining in other locations.
Of the total number, around 200 workers involved in a project developed by a Turkish contractor in Libya have just been taken by their contractor to Turkey for safety reasons, the department said.
Localities where Vietnamese workers are staying for work have yet to be affected much, and the MOLISA is closely monitoring the developments in the African country to suggest solutions to ensure safety for Vietnamese workers, Quynh said.
Labor exporting companies are requested to stop sending workers to Libya and actively coordinate with competent agencies in plans to protect Vietnamese workers there, the official said. “At the regular meeting of the government on Wednesday, July 30, the ministry will present a plan to ensure safety for Vietnamese workers,” he added. Vietnamese agencies successfully sent back 10,000 Vietnamese workers from Libya in March 2011 when the country fell into serious political instability. The sending of Vietnamese workers to Libya had since been halted until July 2012, when the MOLISA allowed labor exporters to resume their supply of labor to the North African country. Libya is the only country in Africa that has signed a labor cooperation contract with Vietnam, the ministry said.
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