About 1,000 overseas Vietnamese (OV) gathered at the annual “Homeland Spring” programme in Hanoi on January 26 to celebrate the upcoming Lunar New Year. 

Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong at the event

In his opening speech, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh partly attributed the country’s achievements to valuable and practical contributions of more than 4.5 million Vietnamese abroad 

He said each Vietnamese abroad serves as an ambassador to foster ties between Vietnam and his/her second homeland, step up global integration for sustainable national development. 

The Deputy PM expressed his belief that the country will reap greater achievements and the Vietnamese community abroad will stay united to contribute more to the homeland in 2019. 

General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and President Nguyen Phu Trong said the overseas Vietnamese community is an inseparable part of the nation. 

According to him, about 300-500 OV intellectuals have returned home in recent years to join activities in science-technology, education-training, build a start-up ecosystem, and are invited to work with universities, research institutes, hi-tech zones and economic establishments. 

The Party and State highly value consultations by OV scientists to quickly access technological advances in the world, especially amid the ongoing fourth industrial revolution, he said. 

A number of overseas Vietnamese businesspeople, associations and networks have actively brought Vietnamese goods to the world while attracting foreign enterprises and multinational corporations to Vietnam. In 2018, remittances to Vietnam neared 16 billion USD, or a more than 100-fold surge from 1993, which have so far been invested in around 3,000 manufacturing and trading projects. 

Via cultural and religious exchanges, the OVs have popularised the images of Vietnam abroad, contributing to improving its stature on international arena. 

The leader said the 2018 achievements have once again reaffirmed the power of great national unity, fostering trust and evoking patriotism and national pride. 

On the occasion, the Party chief beat the drum to launch the 2019 spring festival. 

Participants were treated to traditional and contemporary music performances performed by well-known artists at the event. 

In the afternoon the same day, the Party leader and OVs performed a ritual of releasing carps into Hanoi’s Hoan Kiem Lake to bid farewell to the Kitchen Gods. 

Earlier, the OV delegation also paid tribute to President Ho Chi Minh at his mausoleum, and laid a wreath at martyrs’ memorial.

Prime Minister meets overseas Vietnamese joining Homeland Spring programme

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phúc (front, C) takes photo with overseas Vietnamese 

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc met with 100 overseas Vietnamese (OV) who came home to attend the “Xuan Que Huong” (Homeland Spring) 2019 programme in Hanoi on January 26.

He expressed his pleasure to meet the Vietnamese expatriates representing 4.5 million Vietnamese abroad and sent his best wishes to the OV community on the occasion of the traditional Lunar New Year (Tet) – the biggest holiday in Vietnam.

The PM spoke of constructive ideas of the OVs and hoped they would make more contributions to the country’s development.

“The Party and State always pay attention to overseas Vietnamese and regard them as an indispensable part of the country,” he said.

The Government leader briefed the OVs on the country’s socio-economic achievements over the past years with the scale of the economy expanding to 5.5 quadrillion VND (about 240.5 billion USD) along with high economic growth, trade surplus, and improved business and investment environment.

The Party and State have spared no efforts to prevent and combat corruption and handle violations, he said.

Implementing the inclusive growth policy, the Party and Sate has paid attention to social welfare policies so that no one will be left behind, he added.

The PM hoped more OV investors would invest in Vietnam, especially when the country has joined 12 free trade agreements (FTAs), including the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) in the coming time.

The opportunities for investors are huge, not only in Vietnam but also in markets which Vietnam has signed FTAs with, he stressed.

PM Phuc appreciated the OV efforts to collect maps proving Vietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos.

He hoped the OVs would continue preserving the nation’s traditional culture and pay due attention to education and teaching of Vietnamese for their children.

He expected the OVs to further promote economic cooperation between Vietnam and other countries, especially trade and investment activities, while calling on them to invest in Vietnam and expand the distribution of Vietnamese goods in foreign markets.