Vietnam is hastening the authority of Hong Kong ( China ) to consider the grant of working visa to Vietnamese citizens, according to Vietnamese Consul General to Hong Kong and Macau Hoang Chi Trung.

During an interview granted to the South China Morning Post, Trung said the Hong Kong authority has yet to authorise citizens from Vietnam, mainland China, Macau, Taiwan, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Cuba, Laos, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Nepal to work in the special administrative region.

The official revealed that he had several working sessions with senior officials from Hong Kong’s labour and immigration management agencies to ask for Hong Kong’s permission for Vietnamese labourers to work there.

China ’s Macau Special Administrative Region allowed Vietnamese citizens to work in the region and there are over 20,000 Vietnamese working in Macau now, Trung said.

He added that the Chief Executive of the Macau Special Administrative Region has appreciated Vietnamese people’s contributions to Macau’s economic development and their strict execution of the region’s legal regulations.

According to the Consul General, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is negotiating a free trade agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which is expected to be signed in 2015 or next year.

He expressed his hope that Hong Kong will soon consider the grant of working visa to Vietnamese people in order to ensure its fair treatment with all ASEAN member nations, especially when it already permitted Indonesian and Philippine citizens to work in the region.

VNA