VZCZCXRO8337
RR RUEHCHI RUEHFK RUEHHM RUEHKSO RUEHPB
DE RUEHHI #2633/01 2861014
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 131014Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY HANOI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3704
INFO RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH 1990
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHZU/ASIAN PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 002633 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS AND DRL/IL 
STATE PASS USDOL ETA DAS SMALL, YOUNG, ILAB WATSON 
STATE PASS USTR FOR KARESH 
USDOC FOR 4431/MAC/AP/OPB/VLC/HPPHO 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB EAID ECON ETRD EINV WTRO VM
SUBJECT: Vietnam Addresses Workforce Anxiety in APEC Conference 
 
 
HANOI 00002633  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
This cable is sensitive and not for Internet distribution. 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  Dealing with the anxieties and needs of the 
Vietnamese workforce as the country becomes more integrated into the 
world economy is high on the minds of the Vietnamese.  This explains 
the huge turnout for a two-day APEC labor conference in Hanoi.  Some 
175 participants from Vietnam and 14 of APEC's 21 economies attended 
"Strategies for Workforce Development: Keys to Success in the 21st 
Century" on September 19 and 20.  One of the most welcome 
developments was the energized performance of MOLISA Vice Minister 
Nguyen Luong Trao, who actively engaged multiple panelists and took 
copious notes throughout the conference.  Diverse experts also made 
specific recommendations on the steps Vietnam should take to deal 
with the challenges the country's labor force faces.  End summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Dealing with workforce anxiety as Vietnam becomes more 
integrated into the world economy is high on the minds of the 
Vietnamese.  As this year's host of the Asia-Pacific Economic 
Cooperation (APEC) forum, Vietnam used its influence to get APEC to 
address this issue.  Earlier this year it made a pitch to focus on 
the workforce challenges of globalization and succeeded.  The APEC 
Human Resources Development Working Group approved the conference in 
May at the Second APEC Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM-2).  Vietnam 
also helped shape the agenda for the conference and provided 
speakers for most of the panels.  It also designed one plenary 
session, "Vietnam and the Forces of Globalization-Building a 
Competitive Workforce," to focus in particular upon Vietnam's 
workforce needs in the aftermath of its looming WTO entry. 
 
¶3. (U) The U.S. Department of Labor provided most of the funding for 
the conference.  It co-sponsored the two-day event in Hanoi with 
Vietnam's Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) 
and the Department of State.  The State Department also contributed 
money and the Embassy provided substantial planning and logistical 
support. "Strategies for Workforce Development: Keys to Success in 
the 21st Century" took place on September 19 and 20.  About 175 
participants, the vast majority Vietnamese, attended the event.  The 
others came from 14 of APEC's 21 economies.  About half of the 
Vietnamese participants came from the private sector.  U.S. firms, 
including Intel, Microsoft and Ford Vietnam, provided human 
resources specialists from their offices in Vietnam.  Union 
officials, educators, employment service center employees and 
government policymakers in the labor, science and technology and 
education fields also participated.  Representatives of the World 
Bank, the International Labor Organization and a range of local and 
international media also attended. 
 
Vietnam and Globalization 
------------------------- 
 
¶4. (U) In their opening remarks, MOLISA Vice Minister Nguyen Luong 
Trao, Ambassador Marine, and Department of Labor Deputy Assistant 
Secretary Douglas Small all highlighted the challenges that 
 
SIPDIS 
workforces face as globalization increases competition worldwide. 
"In a world where businesses can choose among dozens of countries 
for their production sites, creative, skilled and hardworking 
employees can make all the difference between growth and stagnation 
for a nation's economy," Ambassador Marine said.  At a media 
roundtable for local and international journalists, DAS Small 
emphasized the importance of cooperation between the government and 
private sector.  Workforce development was vital for general 
economic development, he added.  Small endorsed the remarks of 
keynote speaker Martin Bean, the Global Director of Education for 
Microsoft that "Business goes where the talent is."  Asked at a 
press briefing for his advice on what the Government of Vietnam 
(GVN) should do, Small said the GVN needs to listen carefully to the 
private sector to determine its educational emphases.  Several 
Vietnamese news outlets, including Vietnam News, Vietnam Economy, 
and Voice of Vietnam, covered the event. 
 
¶5. (U) World Bank Vietnam Chief Economist Martin Rama said Vietnam 
needs to focus on implementing WTO-compatible labor market 
regulations, improving social protections and boosting skills for 
development.  He observed that Vietnam's minimum wage laws are 
currently not WTO-compatible because they apply different wage rates 
to Vietnamese and foreign-owned firms.  He advised Vietnam to create 
a more flexible and market-responsive wage setting regulations for 
those working above minimum wage. (Note:  Under current rules, the 
wage rates for all Vietnamese workers are set as a multiple of the 
minimum wage.  Thus, an increase in the minimum wage results in 
automatic raises across the wage spectrum.  End note.)  In Rama's 
view, the wave of labor unrest in Vietnam earlier in 2006 
demonstrates the inadequacy of Vietnam's labor dispute resolution 
mechanisms.  He recommended that Vietnam improve the social safety 
net for the tens of thousands of workers who stand to lose their 
 
HANOI 00002633  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
jobs as a result of state-owned enterprise restructuring.  Because 
employers usually provide training only in specific job-related 
skills, Rama argued that Vietnam should focus its resources on solid 
basic education, particularly at the tertiary level. 
 
¶6. (U) David Knapp, the General Director of Motorola Vietnam, noted 
that aside from boosting basic engineering skills, firms such as his 
need more employees with drive, creativity and analytical skills. 
He recommended that Vietnam should eliminate the current regulation 
that limits the number of foreign employees to three percent. 
Strategically, the country should encourage knowledge transfer from 
abroad, and the best way to do so was by removing blocks to 
foreigners working in Vietnam.  Ta Doan Trinh, the Director of the 
Vietnam Science and Technology Evaluation Center, decried low 
education levels in Vietnam.  With a population of 83 million, the 
country has only 2 million citizens with university degrees.  Only 
16,000 Vietnamese have master's degrees, he added. 
 
Vice Minister Actively Engages 
------------------------------ 
 
¶7. (SBU) The most welcome development was the active engagement by 
MOLISA Vice Minister Nguyen Luong Trao.  He visited Washington in 
August to participate in the 2006 Labor Dialogue at the Department 
of Labor.  The standard practice in Hanoi is that Vice Ministers, if 
they show up at all, make canned speeches then disappear.  This was 
not the case at this conference.  Trao stayed the entire first 
morning.  He returned for the entire second day and even asked at 
the last minute to deliver closing remarks.  He took lengthy notes, 
asked several questions and grilled panels of American, Australian 
and Mexican experts with questions about labor market information 
and building effective public workforce systems.  "The views and 
experiences of the APEC economies are extremely useful to Vietnam. 
It will help us prepare our own strategy to face the challenges and 
opportunities of globalization, and I look forward to continuing to 
exchange views after this," he said. 
 
¶8. (U) Other sessions at the conference focused on strategies to 
create innovative public-private partnerships, education and 
training, youth and the role of entrepreneurship in economic growth. 
 The last session described Topic64, an innovative public-private 
partnership involving Microsoft Corp., USAID, a local NGO, Qualcomm, 
Electricity Vietnam, Vietnam's Ministry of Science and Technology, 
among others.  The project will bring an information technology 
curriculum to computer laboratories in community colleges in each of 
Vietnam's 64 provinces. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶9. (U) The conference was a success in terms of the Mission's broad 
economic strategy for economic prosperity.    Labor is an integral 
element of the process.  Vietnam will need to create more jobs to 
absorb a growing workforce.  The private sector has created most of 
the new jobs in the country.  It was good for the Vice Minister to 
hear from the firms that are creating jobs what the challenges are. 
 
¶10. (U) This cable has been cleared by the Department of Labor. 
 
MARINE