Thousands of Vietnamese guest workers may travel to the Middle East in the near future following a recent tour of the region made by Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung.

The country has reached agreements to send 25,000 to 60,000 workers to six countries including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman, confirmed the director of the Overseas Labour Management Department, Mr. Dao Cong Hai.

“The workers will have a six-month probation before signing two or three-year contracts,” Hai said. “If our recruitment and vocational training don’t meet their standards, the guest workers would return to the homeland.”

Hai said that there were about 15,000 Vietnamese guest workers already employed in the Middle East, about 8,000 of them in Qatar .

Over 800 guest workers, accounting for about five percent of the total sent to the region, have been required to return home for not meeting the demands of their overseas employers or foreign regulations, or were shifted to work in other jobs at lower wage levels, Hai confirmed.

“This is a lesson for us in the future,” he added.

Airserco, a labour export company operated by Vietnam Airlines Corporation, was carrying out a preferential programme for workers from flood-ravaged areas in central Viet Nam to work in Dubai.- (VNA)