Overseas Vietnamese are welcomed at Tan Son Nhat Airport, HCM City.

VietNamNet Bridge - More than 700 overseas Vietnamese who returned to Vietnam for the lunar New Year gathered for the first time at a meeting held by the HCM City Liaison Association with Overseas Vietnamese at the My Village tourist site in HCM City on January 11.

This year, overseas Vietnamese from the USA, France, Australia and Europe accounted for the highest number.

Huynh Lai, 72, a Vietnamese American, said he always tried to return to Vietnam each Tet, otherwise he would feel uneasy.

“Each time I come home, I’m very happy to see the changes of Vietnam and HCM City. I see new houses and buildings everywhere; the roads are bigger and better. Goods are abundant, especially at supermarkets, where we can buy items priced from VND 1,000 to VND 1 billion,” he said.

He said he returned home to enjoy traditional Tet and to worship their ancestors. Though he and his children return to Vietnam or stay in the US, they always welcome Tet following traditional Vietnamese rituals. But anyways, he loves to celebrate Tet at his homeland, Vietnam, because the “Tet atmosphere in Vietnam is very strange, which we can’t have abroad.”

Phan Thanh, a Vietnamese Canadian, the Chairman of the Overseas Vietnamese Businessmen Association, said: “The vehement vitality of Vietnam and Vietnamese people is shown through the preservation of spiritual values. Vietnamese people everywhere still descend their ancestor’s traditions from generation to generation.”

He said Tet at home is always warm and wonderful.

Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thuyet Phong, a Vietnamese American scholar of traditional music, said in the US and other countries where he has come to work as a lecturer, Vietnamese people’s brainpower is huge, especially in the fields that Vietnam needs, such as biotechnology, IT, precise calculation, mechanics but they do not know much information about Vietnam.

He said Vietnam has had a lot of websites providing for overseas Vietnamese. Several years ago, they did not know where to obtain information about Vietnam.

The Chairwoman of the HCM City Liaison Association with Overseas Vietnamese, Luong Bach Van, said overseas Vietnamese have invested VND 972 billion ($57.17 million) in HCM City. In 2008, overseas Vietnamese invested in small provinces in Vietnam, totaling more than VND40 billion ($2.35 million).

Overseas Vietnamese’s problems in investing in HCM City was solved by the HCM City People’s Committee Office and the local Department of Planning and Investment and related agencies. As a result, many overseas Vietnamese-funded groups and companies have developed quickly and stably, for example the Tan Tao group and some commercial banks.

Overseas Vietnamese have raised funds for charity in Vietnam totaling over VND6 billion ($353,000).

Bach Van said the HCM City Liaison Association with Overseas Vietnamese plans to work together with universities and sci-tech organizations to attract overseas Vietnamese experts and scholars.

The HCM City People’s Committee approved the establishment of the Centre for Overseas Vietnamese Support. The city authorities also agreed on a special salary scheme for overseas Vietnamese scientists who work in the city, with a monthly salary of VND 10-15 million/person/month.

The salary is modest compared to their income overseas, but it shows the city’s effort to invite overseas Vietnamese scientists and experts to work at home.

As Tet is coming, many flights from the US, France, Australia, and the UK are bringing overseas Vietnamese back home. The Tan Son Nhat Airport hosts over 75 flights a day, over half of them are international flights.

(Source: Que Huong)