“The overseas Vietnamese community is an inseparable part of the nation”, stressed State president Nguyen Xuan Phuc while addressing the 2022 Xuan Que Huong (Homeland Spring) Program on January 22.

Phuc said Vietnamese expatriates always remain a part of the nation regardless of their places of residence, whether in Vietnam or abroad, as we are descendants of the same ancestors.

The Homeland Spring Program was held to welcome the Vietnamese expatriates who return home to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

A night of honoring

State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc gave a speech at the Homeland Spring Program on January 22 in Hanoi. Photo: VNA

Phuc said despite being seriously affected by the pandemic, the nation has still maintained economic and social stability. The country is one of the six countries with the highest vaccination coverage in the world.

“Despite numerous challenges in 2021, but thanks to the national great unity of all Vietnamese, either in Vietnam or abroad, either from the central or the grassroots level, Vietnam has embarked on the dual mission of adapting to the Covid-19 and maintaining stability, which resulted in a positive economic growth,” said the president.

He went on to say that the Vietnamese community abroad has played an important role in the country, making remarkable achievements last year.

“The initial success of the vaccine diplomacy was thanked partly to the overseas Vietnamese who launched a money-raising campaign for the Vaccination Fund as well as sent home necessary medical equipment and drugs,” Phuc stressed.

The President beat the drum to open the Spring Festival. Photo: VNA

The OVs’ accumulative remittance for the last year continued to grow, reaching nearly US$14 billion. It was a valuable source for the national GDP growth of 2.58% in 2021 amid the global economic slowdown. Trade turnover reached nearly $670 billion, an increase of 22.6%, making Vietnam one of the top 20 economies in international trade.

The nation has also earned the trust of international businesses whose both new and expanded investment amounted to $31.5 billion in 2021, a 9.5% increase. In sum, the total FDI into Vietnam from 140 countries and territories reached $410 billion in the past year.

The president regretted the few comebacks of overseas Vietnamese on this Lunar New Year festival due to the Covid-19 pandemic, adding that Vietnam brought home nearly 120,000 citizens in 600 flights throughout the last year.

Singing out the united song

Oversea Vietnamese conductor Dong Quang Vinh conducts a symphony orchestra, themed Spring, at the program. Photo: VNA

Homeland Spring is an event organized every year by the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese on the occasion of the Lunar New Year festival. It aims to facilitate exchanges and foster unity between the overseas Vietnamese community and Vietnamese living in the country.

The centerpiece of the program, the Homeland Spring music performance this year was held in both in-person and virtual forms and broadcast live on VTV1 and VTV4 channels with the attendance of the Party and State leaders and around 300 overseas Vietnamese.

The vivid program featured famous artists who are Vietnamese living inside and outside the country such as pianist Nguyen Viet Trung, orchestra conductor Dong Quang Vinh, opera singer Nguyen Khac Hoa, divo Tung Duong, among others.

For the first time, the Embassy of Vietnam in Russia attended the program through a video link. The Vietnamese ambassador to the Russian Federation, Dang Minh Khoi, expressed the homesickness of the Vietnamese expatriates and showed his joy at the great achievement of the nation in the vaccination campaign.

The colorful stage of the Homeland Spring Program. Photo: Jenna Duong

He also informed that the first ever commercial air route from Russia to Vietnam will reopen on January 29, after two hailing years because of Covid-19 pandemic.

“On behalf of overseas Vietnamese, I promise that my expatriates will always do their best, work hard and wholeheartedly towards the Fatherland. Wishing the Prime Minister, his wife and compatriots a happy and prosperous new year,” he said.

Earlier, on the morning of January 22, the president and some overseas Vietnamese attended an incense offering ceremony and prayed for peace and prosperity for the country at Kinh Thien Palace in the Thang Long Imperial Citadel as well as released sacrificial carps at a pond located inside Presidential Palace.

In 2004, the Politbureau of the Communist Party of Vietnam released the Resolution 36 on Overseas Vietnamese. In 2021, the body adopted the Directive 12 on the attention to the Vietnamese expatriates in the new situation.

Last year, total remittances of Vietnamese abroad reached $14 billion.

Around 5.3 million Vietnamese people are living, studying and working in 130 countries and territories. Roughly 4.3 million among them are long-term residents.