Monday, December 1, 2003
Hanoi willing to relax foreign-labour ceiling
Reuters Hanoii, December 1
Vietnam will consider exceptions to a limit on foreign workers that has drawn criticism from investors who are concerned it will stymie their operations, government officials told a business forum on Monday.
The government rule, which took effect in September, barred companies operating in Vietnam from hiring foreigners for more than three percent of their staff and capped the absolute number of foreigners in each company at 50.
Foreign companies have criticised the law for having a chilling effect on businesses and have grumbled about not being consulted beforehand.
Decree 105 "will be a very serious burden for investment" Jean-Michel Caldagues of the European Chamber of Commerce said on Monday at the Vietnam Business Forum, a private sector grouping that discusses ways to improve the investment climate.
Though boasting the second fastest growing economy in Asia, after China, Vietnam relies on foreign help in a number of industries.
Labour ministry official Nguyen Dai Dong said Hanoi may relax the foreigner-employment curb on for certain industries, such as schools and high-technology, and others "where you can make the case", said one of the forum's participants.
The World Bank, which co-sponsored the one-day forum, hailed the government response.
"It turns out that the government is listening and willing to reconsider," said Klaus Rohland, Vietnam representative for the World Bank. "It turns out that the worst nightmare of businesses will probably not materialise." Faced with the new law, some businesses would have been forced to send back home many of their expatriate workers, he said.
© Hindustan Times Ltd. 2003.