HCM City (VNA) – Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister P♐ham Binh Minh has called for brainpower, resources and engagement of overseas Vietnamese (OV) around the world to boost the country’s growth and prosperity in the new period.

Addressing the Conference for Overseas Vietnamese that opened in Ho Chi Minh City on November 12, the Deputy PM affirmed that the Party and State of Vietnam consider the OV community an integral part of the nation. Highly valuing the great role of OVs in the country’s development, he underscored that cooperation activities in science, technology, investment, business and finance of the community have become a significant resources, which effectively contributes to the country’s growth. He urged participants at the conference to share their experience, discuss lessons of other countries and put forth solutions to all development fields of Ho Chi Minh City . Their ideas will serve as important references for the Party, State and the city in designing policies and measures for the socio-economic development of Ho Chi Minh City and the whole country in general in the future, he stated. Meanwhile, Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong thanked the OV community for their contributions to the city’s socio-economic development over the past years. However, he held that the engagement has yet to match the high potential of brainpower, international experience and important finance resources from the OV community. Leaders of the city will seriously consider valuable opinions of OVs during their policy-making process, he pledged, expressing his hope that the event will help Ho Chi Minh City attract more OV intellectuals, experts, scientists and entrepreneurs to serve the development of the city as well as the country. Themed “Overseas Vietnamese join hands for Ho Chi Minh City’s rapid, sustainable development and international integration,” the three-day event gathers nearly 500 delegates who are expats from all over the world. Participants will discuss a wide range of issues, focusing on Ovs’ contributions to Ho Chi Minh City’s sustainable development, human resources improvement, science-technology growth and knowledge-based economy building, and OVs’ engagement in the city’s trade and service expansion.-VNA