Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Phạm Bình Minh visited the booths displaying products made or designed by overseas Vietnamese during a meeting on Friday in Hà Nội. — VNA/VNS Photo Lâm Khánh

HÀ NỘI — Relations with overseas Vietnamese people are an important part of Việt Nam’s foreign policy, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Phạm Bình Minh said.

He made the statement at a meeting held Friday in Hà Nội to review the five-year implementation of the Politburo’s Directive No.45 on tasks and goals to enhance the implementation of its 2004 resolution on affairs related to overseas Vietnamese.

“The Vietnamese living in other countries are an inseparable part and an important source of strength for the entire Vietnamese people,” Minh stressed, adding that in every high-level meeting with foreign representatives, Vietnamese leaders always asked the host country’s authorities to provide support for the Vietnamese community.

Many mechanisms and policies had been issued and implemented to create more favourable conditions for overseas Vietnamese, Minh said, adding that the Government was working to tap into the great resources that are young Vietnamese people overseas.

In the complex situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the spirit of leaving no one behind, the Government had organised repatriation flights to bring home more than 53,000 people from more than 50 countries and territories, while the good handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country had strengthened the confidence of overseas Vietnamese in the Party and the State, Deputy PM Minh said.

However, there were still shortcomings that need to be addressed concerning relations with overseas Vietnamese, including slow promulgation of policies and instructions on implementation of policies, and the mobilisation of resources from overseas Vietnamese had not yet matched potential.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Đặng Minh Khôi, also Chairman of the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese, said the number of Vietnamese living abroad had increased from 4.5 million people in 109 countries and territories in 2015 to 5.3 million in 130 countries and territories in 2019.

As of October, overseas Vietnamese from 27 countries and territories had invested in 362 foreign direct investment projects in Việt Nam with a total registered capital of US$1.6 billion, Khôi said.

From 2015 to 2019, the total remittances totalled $71 billion, according to Khôi.

Remittances from overseas Vietnamese will reach about $15.6 billion this year, according to a forecast from the World Bank.

Overseas Vietnamese had always responded positively to calls for donation and support for local people in overcoming the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as natural disasters, evidenced by their response to recent historic floods and storms in central Việt Nam, Khôi said.

“Many initiatives to marshal and connect Vietnamese intellectuals from abroad to contribute to national development have been proposed and implemented.”

Many enterprises of overseas Vietnamese have helped promote the country's products, culture and image to international friends. — VNS