A hotline to protect Vietnamese citizens and their legal entities abroad has been launched at +844.62.844.844.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh (M) yesterday inaugurated a hotline to protect Vietnamese citizens and legal entities in foreign countries.

Speaking at a ceremony to mark the occasion yesterday, Minh said that protecting Vietnamese and the Vietnamese legal entities abroad was an top priority for the Government.

The hotline opened yesterday and will be available 24 hours a day seven days a week. Operators will be able to handle requests for assistance from Vietnamese citizens and legal entities abroad.

All of the requests will be dealt with, enabling Vietnamese to exercise their legal rights abroad. The hotline will be able to handle more than 1,500 calls a day and can be expanded to meet demand.

At yesterday's conference, Ambassador Nguyen Huu Trang, head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Consular Department, said the Government respected its obligations to protect its citizens overseas and this was clearly indicated in the Constitution and the Law on Government Organisation.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he said, considered protecting its citizens as a the top prioriy.

Currently, Viet Nam has relations with nearly 200 countries. The number of Vietnamese citizens living overseas amounts to more than 500,000. There are about 100,000 students studying abroad and more than 200,000 Vietnamese brides.