At a working session with Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, late on Jan. 12, at the Government Office, he said that Alberta's population has seen an annual shrinkage of two percent, causing labour shortages to the province's labour-intensive projects.

Deputy PM Dung informed visiting Minister Lyle Oberg that every year Viet Nam adds 1.5 million new jobs while also adding thousands of new workers who are unable to find employment.

He further said that labour export is now highly recommended as an effective measure to fully tap the country's potential labour market and solve unemployment problems, and that Viet Nam is willing to cooperate with Alberta.

The PM suggested that enterprises of the two countries join hands to provide job and foreign language training for Vietnamese workers, and to map out a long-term and effective cooperative programme.

Deputy PM Dung expressed his hope that the long-standing friendship and multi-faceted cooperative relations between Viet Nam and Canada would be developed further, especially in the trade area./.