Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Vietnamese living abroad are an inseparable part of the Vietnamese community, the prime minister once again affirmed at Sunday’s get-together involving expatriates to celebrate the upcoming traditional Lunar New Year.

“Overseas Vietnamese (locally known as Viet Kieus) are Vietnam’s flesh and blood,” Prime Minister Phan Van Khai said in the year-end party at Reunification Hall with the participation of 600 expatriate Vietnamese, including vice president of the former Saigon regime Nguyen Cao Ky.

PM Khai said in the fight against poverty and backwardness, the country really needs the contribution and the brainpower of Vietnamese living abroad, regardless of their backgrounds or their past.

Money home

Rising investment and remittances sent back to Vietnam by overseas Vietnamese in 2004 reflected that the expatriates’ hearts and minds are directed towards the country, said Nguyen Chon Trung, chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs.

The recent visits by the Most Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh and Mr. Nguyen Cao Ky have shown that Vietnamese people would never forget their origins no matter how far they are from home, Mr. Trung highlighted.

“I want to quote two statements in a book which Most Venerable Hanh gave me. The first is “Those who stay away from their original home cannot live a happy life”,” Mr. Khai said.

“And the second is “I live without hatred or bias, and it makes me happy.”

The prime minister also urged expatriates to heighten solidarity among the overseas Vietnamese community.

In the gathering, overseas Vietnamese asked the government to fast-track entry and exit visas for expats and provide them better access to real estate property in Vietnam.

If possible, the government should allow overseas Vietnamese to collect their visas on arrival at Vietnam’s airports, said Phan Thanh, chairman of Ho Chi Minh City Association of Overseas Vietnamese Enterprises.

It will encourage more expatriates to visit the country, he said.

Although the government has created more favorable conditions for overseas Vietnamese to buy a home in the country, in fact, access to houses still remains a problem for expatriates, Mr. Thanh said.

Some provinces are yet to have clear instructions on the Government’s housing policies for overseas Vietnamese, so there is still a long wait involved for expats to obtain a house in Vietnam, he said.

In 2004, total overseas Vietnamese investment into Ho Chi Minh City hit VND630bil (US$40mil), while money sent back to the city in the form of remittances reached US$1.84bil, according to the Ho Chi Minh City Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs.

Reported by Tran Hung – Translated by Hieu Trung
Story from Thanh Nien News
Published: 31 January, 2005, 00:38:03 (GMT+7)
Copyright Thanh Nien News