Ms Naomi Kitahara, UNFPA Representative for Vietnam;

Mr Ngo Van Cuong, Secretary of the Vietnam Youth Union;

Senior Representatives of the Ministry of Home Affairs,

Representatives of Provincial Youth Union of Quang Tri, Nghe An, and Ha Tinh;

Distinguished guests; and

Ladies and gentlemen;

It is my honour to witness the signing of the youth-led initiatives for Nghe An, Ha Tinh and Quang Tri provinces to support young migrant workers who had to return to Viet Nam due to COVID-19. I would also like to thank the Vietnam Youth Union for organizing this virtual event today in collaboration with UNFPA.

Supporting young returning migrant workers is one of the most important programmes of the UNFPA’s Project "Mitigating the negative impacts of COVID-19 on vulnerable population groups - Ensuring National Progress to Achieve SDGs in Viet Nam", which is funded by the Government of Japan.

The programme aims at ensuring that young Vietnamese international migrant workers, who returned to Viet Nam from various locations including Japan due to the COVID-19 pandemic, are able to obtain essential training on life skills, sexual and reproductive health, and professional and vocational skills for their re-integration to the domestic labour market in Viet Nam and for their long-term professional and personal life planning.

Since the global outbreak of COVID-19, many young migrants have lost their jobs while the COVID-19 containment measures including border closures and travel restrictions have made it harder for them to get jobs. Under such circumstances, many of Vietnamese migrants working abroad have been forced to return to Viet Nam without sufficient preparation and once they are back home, they have faced with many social and economic challenges.

To address these issues, the youth-led initiatives, which we are signing today, are significant. The Initiatives on job generation, life skills and comprehensive sexuality education will help young international migrant workers to be able to effectively cope with the challenges and facilitate their process of exploring different options and coming up with the optimal solutions, thus mitigating the negative impact of COVID-19 in Vietnam. The Government of Japan is honoured to be able to support this initiative that contributes to the realization of the SDGs philosophy of "leave no one behind."

Lastly, Today, in this event, I would like to express my appreciation for UNFPA’s efforts in managing and providing technical support to the Vietnam Youth Union. And I wish to commend the Vietnam Youth Union at national and provincial levels for supporting Vietnamese young people in hardships.

I wish every success for young people in Viet Nam!

Thank you for your attention.