Hai Phong expatriates look towards their homeland
WVR - Hai Phong expatriates serve as a great source of resources for the country in general and for the city in particular.
Latest
 |
| Chairman of Haiphong People's Committee Nguyen Van Tung took photos with Hai Phong expatriates attending the Hai Phong Homeland Spring 2023 program. (Photo: Hai Phong Department of Foreign Affairs) |
Hai Phong city is known as one of the key economic regions of Viet Nam with a strongly developed marine economy and very early trade with foreign countries. Currently, the proportion of Hai Phong people community living abroad accounts for about 2% of the city’s population, among the top in the country. According to the survey results, overseas Hai Phong people have 80 foreign enterprises and 60 domestic investment projects. They play a crucial role in connecting local products, services, and businesses with those in the home country and the city, as well as shows that the overseas Hai Phong people community has a lot of potential in economics, science, and politics.
According to a recent survey, there are 47,093 people from Hai Phong who are currently residing overseas in 56 countries and territories, mostly in Asia and Europe. In addition, 27,586 people Vietnamese living abroad temporarily, mostly in countries and territories such as Japan, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan (China), and China. Although the overseas Vietnamese population residing in Europe is smaller, most of them have professional qualification, and many of them have social status, working in large enterprises and in the local state management agencies’ system, such as civil servants, doctors, and university lecturers. In the latest survey, regarding the number of high-level overseas Hai Phong workers, 132 people have PhDs, 442 have Master’s degrees, and 2,479 have bachelor degrees. Besides, several young scientists from Hai Phong are growing up and focusing on many specialized scientific and key economic fields of the host country. They are the core of the nation in general and Hai Phong in particular, one of the fundamental factors that help the country and the city utilize opportunities and overcome challenges of the integration process, shortening the city’s economic gap with developed urban areas and localities all around the world.
60 overseas Vietnamese from Hai Phong have invested in our country in different forms. Currently, in the city, there is one foreign-invested enterprise and 17 enterprises registered by overseas Vietnamese. Those enterprises’ main sphere of activities are agriculture, transportation, and education; beverage production, food service, market research management consulting, machine wholesale, travel transportation, and farming and processing agricultural, forestry, fishery, and seafood products. Some overseas Vietnamese have gradually moved their businesses from their host countries to the nation and certain results have been achieved. In addition, the value of remittances in the 2016-2020 period reached 1.61 billion USD, an increase of 69.12% compared to the 2011-2015 period. Especially in 2019, the remittances received in Viet Nam was 409 million USD, equivalent to one third of the city’s total domestic revenue budget in the same year. In the 2021-2022 period, although there has been a huge impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, the remittances Hai Phong receiving still reached 401 million USD, and they are estimated to reach 309 million USD in 2023. This has shown that the city has great potential for business investment projects and will soon approach other developed economic regions globally.
 |
| Hai Phong expatriates in Russia during a trip to Vietnam's Spratly archipelago. (Photo: Hai Phong Department of Foreign Affairs) |
Not only do they contribute to the country in general and the city in particular with economic development values but overseas Hai Phong people are also active in volunteer activities that bring significant material and spiritual values to people with difficulties in the city, such as supporting the construction of schools and irrigation stations in many localities. Moreover, those participating in foreign non-governmental organizations for many years have also actively contributed and supported the supply of medicine and medical equipment to some large hospitals, commune health stations, and children affected by Agent Orange. They have also implemented projects to support veterans, disabled and disadvantaged children, such as providing scholarships, performing surgeries, and building charity houses. Besides, the city has organized charity programs, such as “Day for the Poor”, “Fund for the Poor”, “Heart for you”, and “Great Circle of Viet Nam”.
Apart from being energetic in domestic economic investment and volunteer activities, overseas Hai Phong people have also demonstrated their role as one of the most dynamic associations in activities to introduce Vietnamese cultural traditions in host countries. Young generations of overseas Vietnamese, including those who were born abroad and have not had opportunities to return to the city, are also very actively participating in exchange activities and youth festivals held in some Eastern European countries, Australia, America, and Germany. It cannot be denied that the overseas Vietnamese community has made very important contributions in activities to promote Viet Nam’s image to international friends.
| A conference to seek ways to tap resources of overseas Vietnamese and connect localities and businesses is scheduled to take place in Hai Phong from December 26-27. Held by the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese and Hai Phong City People’s Committee, the conference aims at developing the overseas Vietnamese resources and fostering connections between localities and businesses. Its expectations are to develop the homeland economy, attract large investors and start-ups, especially strategic projects of the city, such as investing in innovative startups, digital transformation, biotechnology, and new material technology so that the city can have a green, circular economy, reduce net emissions, become modern, and promote the spirit of solidarity; receive various opinions from overseas entrepreneurs and intellectuals to help the city improve its investment and business environment; promote attracting investment from overseas Vietnamese, strengthen the city’s promotion and propaganda to overseas Vietnamese; as well as assert the position and intelligence of Vietnamese people internationally. |
