📝 OP-ED: Repatriation flights reflect compatriotship in trying times

Hanoi (VNA) – The first flight repatriating 287 Vietnamese people evacuated from war zones in Ukraine landed at Hanoi-based Noi Bai International Airport at noon on March 8.

The flight, departing from Bucharest capital city of Romania, had its costs completely covered by the State.

Unable to hold back his emotions after a myriad of difficulties, Phung Van Suu, one of the 287 passengers, said they are deeply moved by the Party and State’s assistance and arrangement of the repatriation flight, and that they are extremely grateful to the Party and State.

Phi Van Tien, who moved from Odessa city, described the flights organised by the Government in these trying times as greatly touching to overseas Vietnamese like them. He thanked the Government for supporting the community, and that he will never forget this for the rest of his life.

The opinions of the two passengers on this special flight are also the common thought of thousands of Vietnamese escaping from the war zones in Ukraine as the compatriotship has once again shone in the times of misfortune.

Not leaving Vietnamese people in the war zones killed or injured and not leaving anyone hungry or cold during the evacuation process have become the motto of Vietnam’s representative agencies in the neighbouring countries of Ukraine throughout the arrangement of repatriation flights.

As of March 7 evening, the representative agencies of Vietnam in some Eastern European countries like Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and Moldova received about 3,500 Vietnamese people moving out of the war zones in Ukraine.

After the first flight from Romania, the second is scheduled to depart from Poland on March 9 to bring about 270 citizens back to Vietnam.

Giving the top priority to citizen protection and the maximum safety of lives, property, and legal and legitimate interests of Vietnamese citizens and legal entities is a consistent policy of the Party and State. That policy has been clearly demonstrated in the repatriation of citizens from war zones in Ukraine.

This was also the spirit of the flights bringing home Vietnamese workers in Libya over 10 years ago. Under the Government’s order, 10 flights were conducted from March 1 to 13, 2011 to safely evacuate more than 3,000 Vietnamese citizens from the war-hit Libya.

Another flight of this type was the one carrying Vietnamese nationals from Wuhan city of China’s Hubei province in February 2020, when Wuhan was the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic and it was lockdowned, and cut all transport links with other regions.

In the places far away from the homeland, the compatriotship, with the Party and State’s attention and the overseas community’s support, has become greater than ever in trying times./.