Deputy Foreign Minister Dang Minh Khoi (Photo: VNA)Khoi, also Chairman of the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs,made the statement in an interview granted to Vietnam News Agency reporters onthe sidelines of the ongoing 13th National Congress of the CommunistParty of Vietnam (CPV) in Hanoi on January 29.
He said that in the political report delivered at theCongress, Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong stressedthat in the coming years, Vietnam must make greater efforts to supportVietnamese living abroad in order to help them consolidate their legal status,integrate better into the host countries, and boost socio-economic development.
It is necessary to do the good job of protecting the legitimate interests of overseasVietnamese, and help them continue studying the Vietnamese language to preservethe national identity, he said.
“ We must also better information work towards Vietnamese expatriates so thatthey can come closer to the homeland, look more towards the homeland, and havemore trust in the country,” he noted.
According to the Deputy FM, last year, his ministry conducted fact-findingtrips to a number of localities across the country, including Ho Chi Minh City,Hai Phong and central provinces and found that the local leaders had paid greatattention to implementing policies for overseas Vietnamese.
Especially, the localities have many initiatives to connect overseas Vietnameseand those at home, he said, citing HCM City holds an annual get-together forOVs to look into their difficulties as well as partly meet their aspirations.
These policies have seen positive outcomes and received warm response from Vietnameseabroad, he stressed.
However, he noted that the 5.3-million-strong OV community is very diverse,featuring many generations with different educational levels and economicconditions.
“Therefore, Vietnamese agencies, sectors and localities need to have morespecific and flexible approaches to OVs so that they can contribute more to thenation,” he stressed.
The Politburo’s Resolution No. 36 on overseas Vietnamese issued in 2004 hasaffirmed that the Party and State always consider the OV community aninseparable part of the Vietnamese nation.
Over the past time, many mechanisms and policies had been issued andimplemented to create more favourable conditions for overseasVietnamese.
According to Deputy FM Khoi, the number of Vietnamese living abroad increasedfrom 4.5 million people in 109 countries and territories in 2015 to 5.3 millionin 130 countries and territories in 2019.
As of October 2020, overseas Vietnamese from 27 countries and territories hadinvested in 362 foreign direct investment projects in Vietnam with a totalregistered capital of 1.6 billion USD.
From 2015 to 2019, the total remittances totalled 71 billion USD. The figure wasforecast by the World Bank to reach about 15.6 billion USD in 2020.
Overseas Vietnamese have always responded positively to calls for donation andsupport for local people in overcoming the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic aswell as natural disasters, evidenced by their response to recent historicfloods and storms in central Vietnam, Khoi said.
The Party, State and Government of Vietnam always appreciate the valuablecontributions of the Vietnamese community abroad, and also want them toaccompany and continue making contributions to national development, he affirmed./.
VNA
