Overseas Vietnamese contribute to national development

Vietnam has formulated law and policies to live up to the expectation of overseas Vietnamese, making them to draw closer to the homeland emphasizing that overseas Vietnamese are a part of and an important resource for Vietnam. 

Vietnam has reviewed, revised and set out legal documents concerning overseas Vietnamese including the laws on nationality, land, housing, investment, and enterprises, an ordinance on overseas remittance, and regulations on residence and repatriation. 

These policies have created favorable conditions for overseas Vietnamese including intellectuals, scientists and businesses to contribute to Vietnam’s politics, external affairs, economics, culture, science and technology, education, and training. Overseas Vietnamese’s investment in Vietnam has increased in both scope and scale. 

Thanh Do in Russia, who has invested in real estate and building high-rises in Ho Chi Minh City and Nha Trang, said “I want to contribute to the development of Ho Chi Minh City and the construction sector. I hope our country will change for the better.”

A number of overseas Vietnamese have returned to the homeland to work in educational reform, health care, economic restructuring, clean energy, and transport infrastructure development. 

About 300 overseas Vietnamese experts return to home every year, of them 55% work for state agencies and 45% in education and research institutions. 

Professor Le Van Cuong of the University Paris 1 and Director of the French Science Center said “I want to train students in economics to reach the international level. This is what we can do. We need to set up a world-class economics faculty in Vietnam which will help reduce costs, prevent a brain drain, and attract talents.”

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh said the Vietnamese government would continue to map out specific policies and solutions to help Vietnamese expats.

“It’s very important to mobilize overseas Vietnamese to contribute to the homeland. 80% of successful overseas Vietnamese people live in developed countries. The government plans to attract more overseas Vietnamese intellectuals back to work for national industrialization and modernization,” said Deputy PM. 

Incentives have been adopted and meetings have been held to hear overseas Vietnamese’s opinions on national development and to strengthen their links with the homeland.