The flesh and blood of the country

Party Secretary General and President Nguyen Phu Trong with overseas Vietnamese attending the Hometown Spring Program 2019. Photo: VNA

Preparing to welcome the Year 2020 - the year of many great national events - the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs is urgently preparing many activities to engage our people to promote the cause of great national unity between the people in the country and 4.5 million overseas Vietnamese, gathering joint effort to build the country.

The consistent policy of the Party and State of Vietnam is to always consider the overseas Vietnamese community as an inseparable part, the flesh and blood of the Fatherland. Over the past seven decades, overseas Vietnamese from all over the world have made great contributions to building the country today.

In recent years, Vietnam has continuously developed and attained many achievements in all fields, and the lives of people have been improved significantly. In 2019, although the world and domestic situation faced many instabilities and difficulties, Vietnam still maintained a stable macroeconomic foundation and the country's economic growth exceeded the target. In addition, labor productivity and quality of growth continued to improve; defense and security was strengthened; social order and safety was maintained; the country's position in the international arena has been increasingly enhanced.

Over the years, the overseas Vietnamese community has been constantly growing in both quantity and quality with about 4.5 million people in more than 110 countries and territories, of which more than 500,000 are bachelors, leading engineers and experts in the fields of science, technology, economics and finance.

Every year, about 400-500 overseas Vietnamese experts and intellectuals participate in science and technology activities in Vietnam. The participation of 4/15 members who are Vietnamese intellectuals from France, Japan, the United States and Singapore in the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Group has created momentum for overseas Vietnamese intellectuals to contribute more to the construction of the country. According to data from the World Bank, in 1993 overseas remittances to Vietnam were only US$140 million, but in 2019 it reached $16.7 billion.

The bridge to span overseas Vietnamese with the country

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc met with overseas Vietnamese in the New Year 2019.

Along with the role, position and economic growth and the interest of the Party and State leaders, the overseas Vietnamese community has really become an important resource in the career of construction and development of the country. The trend of returning to the homeland for doing business among young overseas Vietnamese has increased. Overseas Vietnamese have established networks to connect the business community and intellectuals inside and outside the country, such as the network of young overseas Vietnamese, the innovation network... There are nearly 3,000 overseas Vietnamese businesses in Vietnam, with a total capital of about US$ 4 billion.

However, the country still faces many difficulties and challenges both from the inside and the outside, especially in the context of the rapid and complicated changes in the world and the region.

Therefore, "The homeland always needs the solidarity of all people, promoting the spirit of national pride towards the homeland, protecting the country and building the country together so that Vietnam can be "side by side with the powers of the five continents," said Dang Minh Khoi, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chairman of the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs.

Mr. Dang Minh Khoi said that carrying out the tasks assigned by the Party and the State, for the past 60 years, the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs has affirmed its role as a state management agency on the foreign affairs with Vietnamese living abroad. Implementing Directive No. 45-CT/TW dated May 19, 2015 of the Politburo on continuing to promote the implementation of Resolution No. 36-NQ/TW in the new situation and thoroughly grasping the viewpoint on foreign policy of the 12th Party Congress, many documents were issued expressing the policy of the Party and the State in creating conditions for overseas Vietnamese. For example, in the past, when overseas Vietnamese established an enterprise in Vietnam, they had to clearly note that this was an oversea Vietnamese-invested firm but now that discrimination does not exist thanks to the new regulations. As a result, the overseas Vietnamese community becomes closer with the homeland, including the young generation, and becomes an important resource in the cause of national construction and development.

Vietnam is preparing to welcome 2020 with many great national events. The State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs will organize a lot of activities to engage the people, including the Homeland Spring Festival 2020, a meeting of overseas Vietnamese who return to their homeland to celebrate the traditional New Year on January 18, 2020 in Hanoi. “I hope the program will receive the participation of many overseas Vietnamese,” said Mr. Khoi.

The Chairman of the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs truly believes that patriotism and national pride will always be a great source of strength so that Vietnamese people, regardless of where they reside, will turn towards their roots, overcoming all difficulties and challenges, making the country of Vietnam more prosperous and strong, confirming its greater role and position in the international arena.

Thu Thuy