HANOI, June 29 (Xinhuanet) -- Vietnam sent some 29,000 local workers, experts and trainees abroad in the first half of this year,realizing 48.3 percent of the annualized plan.

    The main reason for the slow pace of the activity is attributedto the fact that demand for guest workers of Malaysia, Vietnam's biggest market, plummeted in the period due to difficulties in itssectors of construction and industry, according to Vietnam's Overseas Labor Management Department on Tuesday.

    Vietnam sent only 6,000 guest workers to Malaysia in the first six months of this year, compared to 40,000 in the same period last year. Meanwhile, it sent some 1,000 trainees to Japan and South Korea each, two other major labor markets of the country.

    To revive the labor export, Vietnam is expected to allow more local enterprises to send more trainees to Japan and South Korea and conduct more labor-related surveys in Malaysia.

    A total of 144 labor export enterprises in Vietnam are expectedto send abroad 60,000 workers, trainees and experts this year, and70,000 next year. The country sent 75,000 employees abroad last year, a year-on-year rise of 63 percent, raising the total number of its guest workers to over 340,000 with combined annual incomes of 1.5 billion US dollars. Enditem