Vietnamese Consul General in San Francisco Le Quoc Hung has confirmed the enormous contributions to the nation’s achievements in 2010 by overseas Vietnamese (OVs), referring to Ovs living in the US.

Speaking at a get-together of OVs in the state of California on January 22 to mark the traditional New Year Festival, Hung also said that the Vietnamese State always recognised and praised the support and contributions made by OVs to the country.

He added that the State was in the process of completing policies on OVs, including those on house purchases, immigration issues and attracting more academic Ovs back to their homeland.

In 2010, about 600,000 OVs visited their home country, sending about 8 billion USD in remittances, a 25 percent increase over the previous year.

At present, there are over 3,200 investment projects funded by OVs with a combined value of 5.7 billion USD.

OVs have also taken part in numerous charitable activities to support the country, providing over 16 billion VND to help flood victims in the central region.

Nguyen Dinh Han, who works for Google, said that such a get-together reminds him and others of their country and makes him homesick.

Meanwhile, Vo Tran Dai Huy, who has lived in the US since 1991, said that his family still retains the traditional customs during the traditional New Year Festival./.