Hanoi (VNA) – The State Commission onOverseas Vietnamese (SCOV) under the Foreign Ministry held a ceremony in Hanoion November 19 to celebrate its 60th founding anniversary (November 23).

On behalf of the Party and State leaders, memberof the Party Central Committee and Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh bestowedthe first-class Independence Order upon the SCOV in recognition of theexcellent achievements in its work, which has contributed to nationaldevelopment and defence. 

This is the second time the commission hasreceived the honour so far.

Congratulating the SCOV, Deputy Prime Ministerand Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh said after the six decades of development,the commission has become an important agency of the Foreign Ministry that hasfulfilled its duties in giving proposals to the Party and State, implementingpolicies on overseas Vietnamese, and encouraging the expatriates to contributeto national development and safeguarding.

The official asked the SCOV to step up makingmechanisms and policies relevant to the overseas community so as to help buildup the great national unity bloc and mobilise resources for nationaldevelopment. He told the SCOV to strongly engage overseas Vietnamese in theoptimisation of chances in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, attract moredirect investment from the community, and encourage them to support Vietnamesegoods’ entry into foreign markets.

The commission needs to have a good grasp of overseasVietnamese’ aspirations so as to have practical activities helping them betterserve as a bridge linking Vietnam with other countries, Minh said, requestingit to update the expatriates on the country’s situation and the Party andState’s policies to fight back distortions by hostile forces.

According to Deputy Foreign Minister Bui ThanhSon, the overseas Vietnamese community now consists of some 4.5 million peoplein more than 110 countries and territories. Over 500,000 of them are engineersor leading experts in such fields as science – technology, economy andfinance. 

About 400 – 500 expatriate experts andintellectuals take part in scientific and technological activities in Vietnameach year. Besides, the participation of four intellectuals from France, Japan,the US and Singapore in the 15-member economic advisory group of the PrimeMinister has encouraged overseas intellectuals to contribute more to nationaldevelopment, Son said.

He added many expatriates have returned to dobusiness in the homeland, creating major enterprises, generating jobs, andboosting technology transfer and local development. There are nearly 3,000businesses with the total capital of about 4 billion USD owned by overseasVietnamese in the country at present./.