Attending the meeting were representatives of the Social Committee, the Law Committee, the Finance-Budget Committee, leaders of the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Finance... VSS’  Deputy Director General Dao Viet Anh also was at the meeting.

According to Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, Mr. Nguyen Ba Hoan, in the context of integration and international labor mobility trends, the number of Vietnamese laborers working abroad for a limited time and the foreigner employees in Vietnam is increasing, thus requiring suitable policies to ensure employees’s social security rights and accessibility, creating equal opportunities for both foreigners working in Vietnam and Vietnamese working oversea.

Illustrative image (VSS)

According to the principle of the Vietnam’s Law on Social Insurance and the Korea’s National Pension Law, the supplement regulations on compulsory social security for foreigners working in Vietnam will ensure the benefit of foreign workers in Vietnam, but also contribute to protect the rights of Vietnamese working abroad. However, under the above-mentioned regulations, there is a duplication in social insurance contributions. Vietnamese laborers working in Korea will have to pay both social insurance premiums in both Vietnam Korea; and vice versa Korean workers in Vietnam. According to international practice, bilateral or multilateral agreements on social insurance are made to solve this problem.

According to Mr. Nguyen Ba Hoan, Vietnam and Korea have established a comprehensive partnership in all sectors of economy, politics, defense, security, culture, labor, society,  people-to-people exchange. Along with that, the number of Vietnamese laborers working in Korea and the number of Korean workers in Vietnam is increasing. Therefore, in order to ensure the compliance with local law and regulation of foreign workers, avoid the double payment of social insurance, and optimize the benefits of the workers of both countries, from 2015 up to now, the both Governments have discussed, negotiated and basically agreed on a draft agreement on social insurance between the two countries.

The delegates also discussed the necessity of signing the agreement and reaffirmed that Vietnam and the Republic of Korea have established a comprehensive partnership in all setors of politics, defense, security, economy, culture, society, people-to-people exchanges and migrant workers. At the meeting, it’s agreed that the signing of an agreement on social security between Vietnam and Korea is necessary and consistent with the reform content of Resolution No 28-NQ/TW, in order to avoid double payment of social insurance contributions for employees in both countries and to have a basis for two countries’ employees to calculate the participation time when working in the other country.

On the other hand, the agreement ensures the continuity of payment period to enjoy social insurance, contributes to reduce financial burden for migrant workers, ensures old age social security, assists companies in expanding their operations abroad and stimulates a friendly business environment, encourages companies to invest in each other.