Malaysia is in talks with Japan on sending blue-collar workers to the country under a new visa program that was launched in April, official sources have said.

The two countries are aiming to strike a deal as early as July this year, when Malaysian Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran will visit Tokyo for the signing of a memorandum of cooperation (MOC), it was learned Saturday.

The memorandum is intended to provide a basic framework for information-sharing for the recruitment of blue-collar workers in specified sectors to work in Japan, which is in need of more foreign workers due to a rapidly aging population and low birthrate.