Socialist Republic of Vietnam

(VNA - 12/7/2004) The Government-invested Fund in Support of the Overseas-Vietnamese Community has over the past year spent almost VND 1.4 billion in 13 projects to increase the sentiment towards the nativeland among the young generations of overseas Vietnamese, said a senior official.

The Fund's Chairwowan Truong My Hoa, who doubles as State Vice President, told a gathering on Monday that the sum of money, which made up 20% of the fund's initial capital, included over 655 million VND to cover travel costs for 86 young overseas Vietnamese from 23 countries to attend the Vietnam Summer Camp-2004. The fund has also financed the construction of two Vietnamese language schools in Laos, covered travel costs for six overseas Vietnamese intellectuals to work back home, and funded trips for folk song and dance troupes to perform abroad in the service of Vietnamese communities.

The fund has planned to help 100 young overseas Vietnamese attend the Vietnam Summer Camp-2005, where they will have meals, live together and play with local friends to develop their friendship with and better their knowledge of their compatriots. The fund will also help build Vietnamese language schools in Cambodia and hold lunar New Year celebrations for overseas Vietnamese who have contributed to national unity and economic development.

The fund will prioritise projects in support of disadvantaged overseas Vietnamese communities and efforts to encourage overseas Vietnamese to invest in the homeland.