VNA: OVERSEAS VIETNAMESE COMMITTEE COMMEMORATES 40TH FOUNDING ANNIVERSARY

[Dao Van <daotb@yahoo.com>]

OVERSEAS VIETNAMESE COMMITTEE COMMEMORATES 40TH FOUNDING ANNIVERSARY

Ha Noi, Nov.  22 (VNA) -- The Overseas Vietnamese Committee
(OVC) celebrated its 40th founding
anniversary (Nov.  23, 1959-1999) and received the State's Independence
Order, first class, at a ceremony held in Ha Noi today (Nov.  22). 

The committee's Chairman, Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien,
reviewed the OVC's activities over the past 40 years, highlighting the
positive contributions made by the committee's staff to the successful
implementation of the Communist Party of Viet Nam and State's policy of
national unity, of which the overseas Vietnamese community is an
inseparable part. 

Nien said the committee's task has been made easier by the fact that
overseas Vietnamese, no matter how far away or how long they have been
away from the country, never forget their root and always try to keep
their national characteristics through ups and downs.  He stressed that
more and more overseas Vietnamese are finding their way back to the
country while the committee is reaching farther to their country fellows
living out of the motherland, that means the distance between them is
shortened. 

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Nguyen Manh Cam reiterated
the Party and State policy to attach importance to the relations with
overseas Vietnamese.  He pointed out that with concrete policies already
promulgated and increasing understanding, the overseas Vietnamese
community will become closer to their fatherland, thus striving to
contribute to building Viet Nam into a strong and prosperous country on
a par with advanced nations in the world. 

There are currently almost 2.3 million Vietnamese residing in 80
countries and territories worldwide.  Nearly half of them are in the
United States, and the majority of the remainder live in France,
Germany, Thailand, Canada and Russia.  Every year, hundreds of thousands
of overseas Vietnamese visit their home country.  In 1999 alone,
overseas Vietnamese remitted some USD 1 billion to Viet Nam.  At
present, overseas Vietnamese have 71 investment projects with a combined
capital of USD 250 million under the Law on Foreign Investment and 200
other projects capitalized at VND 250 billion (nearly USD 18 million)
under the Law on Domestic Investment in the country.  Sixty percent of
these projects are operating effectively.--VNA
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