VietNamNet Bridge – Nearly 1,000 overseas Vietnamese who returned home from 21 countries attended a New-Year meeting, held by the HCM City Party Committee on the evening of January 17.
HCM City authorities gave New Year’s greetings to overseas Vietnamese and presented the Prime Minister’s and the city’s certificates of merit to outstanding overseas Vietnamese who have importantly contributed to Vietnam’s development.

On behalf of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, HCM City’s officials presented the second-class Labor Order to Johnathan Hanh Nguyen, Chair cum CEO of the Pan-Pacific Group and the third-class order to David Trung Duong, Chair and CEO of the Vietnam Solid Waste Treatment Co., Ltd.
The city also conferred 11 certificates of merit on many overseas Vietnamese who have positively contributed to the city’s development in recent years.

HCM City’s Chairman Le Hoang Quan said that last year overseas Vietnamese sent around $5.2 billion of overseas remittance to commercial banks in the city, 25 percent up over 2010.

Quan emphasized that overseas Vietnamese are bridges of culture, economics and trade between Vietnam and the world.

PV