“More efforts should be made to protect the legitimate interests of overseas Vietnamese while effective measures are taken to fight reactionary forces,” said Mr Khiem at a national conference in Hanoi on April 10 to review the implementation of Resolution 36 of the Party Politburo regarding overseas Vietnamese affairs.

It was reported at the conference that since the resolution was adopted in June 2004, the National Assembly has issued a number of laws and guiding documents on overseas Vietnamese such as the Common Investment Law, the Unified Enterprise Law, the Housing Law and the Law on Overseas Remittances. The mobilisation of overseas Vietnamese has been carried out effectively among different segments of the overseas Vietnamese community.

The Party and State have created favourable conditions for overseas Vietnamese to get involved in the country’s socio-political events such as lunar New Year get-togethers, opinion gathering for the draft political report to be delivered at the National Party Congress, summer camps and Learning Vietnamese classes for young overseas Vietnamese.

Currently, functional agencies are putting the finishing touches to overseas Vietnamese-related documents such as those on visa exemption, immigration, house ownership and repatriation.

Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Phu Binh, who is also chairman of the Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs, said the resolution has helped change the awareness of ministries, sectors, localities and the public as well as the responsibility of the Party and State for the community. The resolution adopted in the Renewal and integration process has made positive impacts on overseas Vietnamese’ feelings about the Party and State.

Tong Thi Phong, Secretary of the Party Central Committee (PCC) and head of the PCC Mass Mobilisation Board, said mass mobilization work plays an important part in the Party and State’s guidelines and policies aimed at fully tapping the aggregate strength of the great national unity bloc for the common cause of national construction and defence.

However, she also pointed out weaknesses in implementing the resolution that failed to meet the community’s expectations in the new context. 

The number of overseas Vietnamese returning to the homeland increased considerably from 300,000 in 2003 to 500,000 in 2006. Similarly, overseas remittances also risen dramatically from US$2.7 billion in 2003 to US$4.8 billion in 2006. By the end of 2006, overseas Vietnamese had invested VND14.5 trillion in 2,050 projects. Every year, hundreds of overseas Vietnamese specialists and intellectuals return to the homeland for research and teaching work.