Delegates attend the Homeland Spring 2022 program. (Photo: danviet.vn)

Supporting overseas Vietnamese community

In 2021, the support work for overseas Vietnamese was implemented actively and timely, clearly showing the affection and responsibility of the Party and State in taking care of the community. Facing the complicated development of the COVID-19 pandemic, the State Commission for Overseas Vietnamese (SCOV) promptly allocated funds to support overseas Vietnamese in difficult circumstances in COVID-19 prevention and control in Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Myanmar, Angola, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

In addition, the SCOV has actively mobilized businesses and localities to support medical supplies for the overseas Vietnamese community. So far, the SCOV has mobilized and supported nearly 1 million masks, worth 5 billion VND, and many sets of protective clothing, medical equipment and necessities for the Vietnamese community in more than 20 countries and territories.

The government supports overseas Vietnamese in Laos to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo: NDO)

In the context of the very complicated development of the pandemic, domestic authorities and representative agencies of Vietnam abroad have closely coordinated with domestic and foreign airlines to organize many flights to bring Vietnamese citizens from more than 60 countries and territories home safely. In 2021, nearly 600 flights were organized to bring more than 120,000 Vietnamese citizens home.

In 2021, the SCOV had many innovations, diversifying forms of support for overseas Vietnamese to preserve and promote the Vietnamese language and national cultural identity. At the same time, the commission has also actively supported overseas Vietnamese experts and intellectuals in connecting and dealing with difficulties and problems; and promoting startup, innovation and creativity.

Overseas Vietnamese toward the homeland

Over the past year, the role, position and prestige of the overseas Vietnamese community in the host societies have continued to be strengthened and enhanced. Overseas Vietnamese are increasingly becoming an important resource to contribute to the development of the country, both in terms of economic, intellectual resources and even soft resources, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Notably, overseas Vietnamese have raised more than 80 billion VND, along with medical equipment and supplies to support the COVID-19 Vaccine Fund and the COVID-19 prevention and control of the homeland. Many overseas Vietnamese have actively cooperated in transferring technology for research, testing vaccines, sharing experience in pandemic prevention with the country, even spending their facilities in Vietnam to serve pandemic prevention, volunteering to return to the homeland to participate in the frontline fight against the pandemic.

Despite being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, remittances sent to Vietnam in 2021 still increased by 5.2% compared to 2020 - estimated to reach at 18.1 billion USD, according to the World Bank.

Many Vietnamese experts and intellectuals have gathered and established Innovation Networks in the host country and promoted activities toward the homeland such as the Vietnam Innovation Network in the Republic of Korea (RoK), Japan, Australia and Europe. Besides, a number of associations and groups were established such as the Union of Vietnamese Youth and Student Associations in Europe; and the Network of Overseas Intellectual Associations Supporting Technological Innovation and Commercialization.

Vietnam receives support from overseas Vietnam for the COVID-19 fight. (Photo: hcmcpv.org.vn)

The Overseas Vietnamese community increasingly trusts and expresses its desire to accompany and contribute to the development of the country. Particularly, overseas Vietnamese welcomed and highly appreciated the Politburo's promulgation of Conclusion No.12-KL/TW dated August 12, 2021 on the overseas Vietnamese affairs in the new situation, and said that the contents of the Conclusion correctly and accurately reflects the wishes and desires of the overseas Vietnamese.

However, according to Mr. Pham Quang Hieu, Deputy Foreign Minister, Chairman of the SCOV, some overseas Vietnamese still face difficulties and their legal status is not stable. The crime situation in the overseas Vietnamese community in some regions tends to increase and develop complicatedly, affecting the image of Vietnam in the host country.

Although the direct protests of reactionary and extremist organizations and individuals of overseas Vietnamese have been narrowed in size and influence, these subjects have increased their online activities, increasingly taking advantage of "hot and inadequate" issues in the country, especially democracy, human rights, and some historical issues to gather forces or mobilize local authorities to put pressure on Vietnam, he emphasized.

In 2021, the SCOV’s overseas Vietnamese affairs were comprehensively and strongly implemented in the spirit of the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress and made many outstanding achievements.

In order to implement more comprehensively and strongly the overseas Vietnamese work in the spirit of the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress, in 2022, the SCOV will focus on implementing two breakthroughs: the work of national unity for the overseas Vietnamese and promote the resources of overseas Vietnamese to serve the development of the country.

In addition, the SCOV will implement seven key issues: Implement the Government's action plan on overseas Vietnamese work for the 2021–2026 period and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' action plan to implement the Government's action plan on overseas Vietnamese work for the 2021–2026 period; strengthen the great national unity; promote resources of overseas Vietnamese for national development; support overseas Vietnamese in promoting their legal status and stabilizing their life; support the overseas Vietnamese community in teaching and learning Vietnamese language, preserve the national cultural identity; strengthen information work for overseas Vietnamese; and continue to strengthen the coordination mechanism between domestic and foreign agencies, consolidating the organizational apparatus for overseas Vietnamese work./.