Prime Minister Hun Sen expressed hopes of sending Cambodians to Japan to work in nursing homes yesterday as part of a larger scheme to increase the number of Cambodian migrant workers.

In his speech to garment workers in Phnom Penh’s Por Sen Chey district yesterday, the premier said he discussed the issue with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at their meeting in Japan in August.

Japanese lawmakers amended a number of immigration laws last year in an effort to fill a shortage of nurses and care workers in the rapidly aging country.

One Japanese-owned firm – Procast Asia Co Ltd – is already building a training centre in Phnom Penh to prepare Cambodian migrant workers to be elder care nurses in Japan, according to training centre coordinator Sok Chamroeun.

Labour Ministry spokesman Heng Sour said Cambodia is not the only country trying to train more workers to enter Japan’s elder care workforce.

“For me, I think it’s good” to send more migrant workers abroad, Sour said. “Whether you define employment as local or overseas, it is called employment.”