Myanmar will send about 2,000 workers to Japan annually to work as trainees in small and midsize enterprises, according to local media reports.
Under a technology transfer agreement between Myanmar's Labor Ministry and the semiofficial Japan International Training and Cooperation Organization, 40 licensed employment agencies in Myanmar will recruit trainees to work for JITCO-approved Japanese employers, the Myanmar Times and Khit Myanmar weeklies reported.
Myanmar's Labor Ministry earlier this month granted permission for representatives of the employment agencies to travel to Japan to source job offers, the papers said.
Each employer will be allowed to recruit a maximum of nine Myanmar trainees, who have at least three years of work-site experience, and 200 learning hours in Japanese-language classes.
According to JITCO figures, only 254 JITCO-supported trainees came from Myanmar between 1992 and 2003. That compares with 200,189 from China, 37,493 from Indonesia, 20,337 from the Philippines, 14,393 from Thailand and 12,929 from Vietnam. JITCO has framework agreements with governments of 15 partner countries.