300 innovation professionals from Vietnam said to come to Singapore for work yearly

SINGAPORE: Earlier this month, the Vietnam Economic Times reported that about 200 innovation professionals from Vietnam will be sent to Singapore every year for work, as part of the Vietnam-Singapore Innovation Talent Exchange signed last year.

On Aug 28, 2023, Singapore’s Minister of Manpower and Second Minister of Trade and Industry (MTI) Tan See Leng and Vietnam’s Minister of Labour – Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) Dao Ngoc Dung signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the Innovation Talent Exchange Programme.

The programme is meant to deepen innovation linkages between the two countries.

The Vietnam Economic Times added that Vietnam’s MoLISA recently said that the Vietnamese professionals will work in innovation-related fields for a maximum of two years.

They will be working across a number of industries which include green economy, agricultural technology, financial services, medical technology, semiconductors, digital technology, and information and communications.

MTI said in August of last year that the Programme would allow professionals from Singaporean to find work in eligible innovation-related areas of work in Vietnam, and vice-versa, as well as equip the professionals from both countries with skills and experiences to capture opportunities in the area of innovation.

While the Vietnam Economic Times specifically said that about 300 professionals from Vietnam would be sent to Singapore to work in innovation fields, there has been no mention yet from relevant agencies of the exact number of workers from Vietnam that will come to Singapore.

The Independent Singapore has reached out to MTI for comment.

The MOU between Singapore and Vietnam was signed on the occasion of a visit from then-Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to Vietnam from Aug 27 to 29, 2023, where he was received by Vietnam Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

The Memorandum of Understanding on the Innovation Talent Exchange Programme was among the series of MOUs signed between the two countries at the time.

“To support the aspirations of both countries to grow and deepen linkages between our innovation ecosystems, the two Leaders witnessed the signing of an MOU on the Singapore-Vietnam Innovation Talent Exchange (ITX) Programme between the Government of the Republic of Singapore and the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, which will allow professionals to seek working stints and gain skills and experience in the area of innovation in each other’s economies,” said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. /TISG

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