The work related to the Overseas Vietnamese (OV) community has seen practical changes, focusing more on the community’s interests, after six years of the implementation of the Party Politburo’s Resolution 36 on activities towards OV.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem made the remark at a Nov. 4 conference to review the resolution’s execution.

The changes were seen in all three spheres of information dissemination, policy making and mass mobilisation.

A number of laws have been amended and supplemented to meet the demands and interests of Overseas Vietnamese.

After the Law of Nationality was amended, Overseas Vietnamese are able to keep their Vietnamese nationality while also holding another nationality. The amendment and supplement to the Laws of Housing and Land also enable more OV to buy houses and land in the homeland.

In addition to Instruction 135 that exempts overseas expats of Vietnamese nationality from visa requirements for a duration of five years, a series of regulations regarding residence, repatriation, investment, and business also give more incentives to OV to return home either for visit or business.

The most notable event related to the mass mobilisation work was the first conference of OV held in 2009 with the participation of nearly 900 OV, where the Association of OV Businesses was established.

Various activities for OV, including tours for national festivals such as Tet (Lunar New Year) festival, Hung King’s death anniversary and National Days, and overseas performances by local art troupes, are held regularly, helping OV to understand and have a stronger attachment to the home country.

Stressing the work related to OV is an important task of the whole political system, Deputy PM Khiem asked relevant ministries, agencies and localities to continue effectively executing policies to further attract OV.

At the sum-up conference, representatives of ministries, agencies and 63 cities and provinces nationwide, and leaders of OV liaison societies, discussed topics on policy making, protection of Vietnamese individuals and legal entities abroad, assistance to the OV community to develop and integrate into host countries, and fight against activities that run counter to the interests of the OV community and the nation.

Vu Thi Ha, Vice Chairwoman of the Society of Vietnamese Women in the Czech Republic, said Resolution 36 has created more favourable conditions for OV to come back to the homeland for settlement or investment as well as supported them in preserving national cultural identity.

According to the Committee of Overseas Vietnamese, nearly 4 million Vietnamese are living and working in 103 countries and territories worldwide.

Every year, some 500,000 OV visit the home country and of them about 300 experts and intellectuals return to work, and thousands of others return for investment and doing business. So far, OV have injected nearly 5.7 billion USD into more than 3,200 projects in the country.

The foreign currency remittance also increases by 10-15 percent annually. In 2009 only, the volume of foreign currencies sent by OV to Vietnam reached 6.8 billion USD./.