Spanish job hunters hit the Ho Chi Minh trail

A GROWING number of Spaniards are leaving the country to work in Vietnam.

Over the last two years, there has been a 40 per cent increase, Foreign Ministry statistics revealed, with 584 Spanish nationals living in Vietnam compared with 351 in 2017.

These were modest figures, admitted ministry sources who added that Vietnam is becoming a serious employment option, especially for young people unable to enter Spain’s labour market.

It was the equivalent of the “Come to Germany, Pepe” so popular in the 1960s when young people were encouraged to migrate for work, the same sources said.

With the Vietnam War a distant memory, the country now maintains commercial relations with many western countries including Spain, which in 2011 signed an agreement to become “a strategic partner.”

Since then the links between the two countries have improved “considerably”, the Foreign Ministry said, with Vietnam showing particular interest in Spain’s infrastructure sectors.

Many of the 584 Spanish residents living in Vietnam are Diplomatic Service employees and their families, the last two years have seen an increase in those moving to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City for business reasons, the Ministry revealed.