The Malaysian Minister of Human Resources, Dr. S. Subramanian, confirmed this during an interview with the Vietnam News Agency on the sidelines of the 21^st ASEAN Labour Ministers’ Meeting (ALMM), in Hanoi on May 24.

“We are quite happy with the number of Vietnamese workers in Malaysia, who are hard-working and are contributing to our economy,” said Subramanian.

Regarding the working conditions of Vietnamese workers, the minister said that Malaysia has rules and regulations to ensure that Vietnamese workers’ rights are protected and they can work in a pleasant environment.

To develop human resources for economic recovery after the global financial crisis, Subramanian said that ASEAN countries should raise the level of their workforces’ skills and the proportion of fully trained workers and that this will increase ASEAN productivity.

Speaking about the initiative to set up a common ASEAN labour market where a worker from one country can easily secure jobs in another, the Malaysian minister said that the issue would be discussed in detail at this meeting, to ensure that every ASEAN member country enjoys employment benefits.

The setting up of a common ASEAN labour market will be in line with the building of the ASEAN social, economic and cultural community by 2015 when there will be greater cooperation and a greater movement of workers within the ASEAN community, said Subramanian.

According to the Department for Overseas Labour Management under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, Vietnam started to send workers to Malaysia in early 1992 and currently, there are about 100,000 Vietnamese working in the country, mostly in industrial production.