ASEAN, Pacific island nations bolster labour cooperation with Australia

Sydney (VNA) - Vietnamese Ambassador to Australia Nguyen Tat Thanh, as Chair of the ASEAN Committee in Canberra (ACC), on August 10 presided over a meeting between representatives of ASEAN nations and Pacific island countries on labour issues.

At the meeting, the first between the two groups of nations, the sides informed each other of labour cooperation with Australia, including the work holiday scheme for ASEAN citizens and Pacific labour programmes, as well as the seasonal worker programme for workers from nine Pacific countries and Timor-Leste.

The sides also exchanged information on the agriculture visa proposed by Australia's Department of Agriculture and Water Resources in mid-June, which is under consideration by the Australian government so as to recruit short-term agricultural workers from Southeast Asian nations.

Delegates expressed a hope that labour cooperation programmes with Australia at present and in the future will be collaborative and supplementary, thereby strengthening the relations between ASEAN and Pacific island countries at large.

Agreeing that labour cooperation has an important role to play for each nation and contributes to Australia’s economic recovery and development, they believed that cooperation with the Australian side is necessary to protect legitimate interests of labourers. 

The two sides also discussed COVID-19 situations in their respective countries and agreed to support each other to surmount the pandemic and revive the economy.

They pledged to bolster regular exchanges and cooperate not only in labour issues but also other spheres of mutual interest, thus contributing to the South-South cooperation and those at forums of the United Nations.