Vietnam’s economic growth experienced a slowdown early this year as its Government moved to cool down its overheated economy in order to curb inflation and ensure social welfare, a Malaysian newspaper said.

The Chinese language newspaper Nanyang Siang Pau said in the context of inflation and rising good prices, the Vietnamese government has paid special attention to building a social welfare system in which job generation is considered an important task and one of the nation’s socio-economic development targets.

Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has also taken care of the life of workers in the country and overseas. The country has exerted its efforts to evacuate more than 10,000 migrant workers from chaotic Libya. The workers returning home ahead of schedule have been given assistance to work in another country, including Malaysia.

During his official visit to Malaysia, the PM emphasised continued labour cooperation with the nation, said the paper.

According to the newspaper, the Southeast Asian nation set a target of creating 1.6 million new jobs this year. In the first quarter of the year, the country generated jobs for 340,000 people, 17,590 of whom were sent abroad to work as guest workers.

Malaysia, a key market in the nation’s labour cooperation, received up to 20,000 Vietnamese guest workers in 2003.

Despite the global economic downturn, during the 2008-2010 period, Malaysia still ranked among the top five nations welcoming Vietnamese