In dire need of direct investment from Overseas Vietnamese!
WVR - After 2004, when the Politburo issued Resolution No. 36-NQ/TW detailing policies for overseas Vietnamese, initiatives for overseas Vietnamese returning to Vietnam for family visits and direct investment in various fields have been increasingly expanded and liberalized.
Latest
Notably, the Resolution encourages overseas Vietnamese with a passion for the country to return and invest in the "green substance" and "gray matter" sectors, serving themselves, their families, businesses, and the community.
Unlocking "Gray matter" and "Green substance" resources
Regarding "gray matter" investment, many intellectuals and scientists who are overseas Vietnamese always wish to return to Vietnam to collaborate and co-develop.
The Party, National Assembly, and Government have issued numerous policies, resolutions, and decrees to facilitate overseas Vietnamese with expertise in this field to return to Vietnam to work with enterprises, ministries, and sectors related to science and technology. The focus is on researching and developing digital technology, digital transformation, and the green circular economy, enabling Vietnam to gradually approach the development level of advanced countries in the region and the world.
If this field is well-developed, Vietnam will have foundational and core technologies as important bases for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4.0), Big Data, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and will also create conditions for the development of supporting industries.
 |
| Entrepreneur Nguyen Hoai Bac, an overseas Vietnamese from Canada. |
In theory, we have many good policies to facilitate scientists and young intellectuals returning to Vietnam for development. However, in practice, this has not been as effective as expected due to significant differences in infrastructure and research conditions between Vietnam and the countries where overseas Vietnamese engineers, doctors, and professors are living and working.
These limitations cannot be resolved overnight but require time, along with appropriate financial, material, and human resources.
Awakening Overseas Vietnamese capital
For the two crucial sectors of "gray matter" and "green substance," we need to clear and expand pathways that can yield immediate results. In my opinion, this is "green substance" – the capital accumulated by overseas Vietnamese over many years and decades living abroad.
This capital can be legally transferred through the banking system and credit institutions under Vietnamese and international regulations, becoming clean capital invested in Vietnam to build factories, create jobs for workers, contribute to social welfare stability, increase budget revenue, and produce high-quality products for export to major markets such as Europe, North America, the United States, Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, China...
In North America, Europe, and developed Asian countries like Japan, the Republic of Korea..., many overseas Vietnamese have accumulated substantial capital over years of living and working, sufficient to expand production and invest back home. Although not everyone is wealthy, many can mobilize from about 500,000 USD to over 1 million USD for investment. We have hundreds of thousands of overseas Vietnamese capable of this.
If they return to Vietnam to invest, they can establish small and medium-sized enterprises, each creating jobs for at least 10 workers. This is a significant resource that needs to be harnessed in line with the country's actual development needs.
We hope that by 2045, Vietnam's economy will become one of the leading economies in the region, maintaining double-digit GDP growth and raising the average per capita income to about 10,000 USD/year, reaching a high middle-income level.
If we can leverage the strength of the overseas Vietnamese community through policies, laws, circulars, and decrees to protect overseas Vietnamese investment capital, while ensuring the transparent, open, and convenient transfer of foreign currency from abroad to Vietnam and vice versa, we will achieve many accomplishments in micro and macroeconomic development.
This will also be an important foundation for building a strong and prosperous Vietnam in the future, in line with the spirit of Politburo Resolutions No. 57-NQ/TW, No. 59-NQ/TW, No. 68-NQ/TW, and No. 69-NQ/TW on the development of science and technology, private economy, and new growth drivers for the country.
Challenging tasks will require time to gradually resolve. However, tasks that can be immediately implemented to mobilize the financial potential and management capacity of overseas Vietnamese for reinvestment in Vietnam should be prioritized. This is the fastest and most effective way to serve the country, contribute to the homeland, and also bring legitimate benefits to the investors themselves.
We must also objectively acknowledge that after more than 30 years of attracting foreign direct investment (FDI), the total FDI into Vietnam is only equivalent to the total remittances sent by overseas Vietnamese during the same period through various forms, including family support and investment.
If there is a transparent, open mechanism that is fully legalized, this capital flow can increase significantly, contributing to the formation of many enterprises owned by overseas Vietnamese, creating more factories, enterprises, and jobs for workers.
This is a very important resource that needs to be exploited, and it is also a field that can be more easily implemented compared to attracting "gray matter" resources. Investing "green substance" with actual capital will quickly yield results for businesses, workers, and the country's development.
Joining forces to build the homeland
According to entrepreneur Nguyen Hoai Bac, an overseas Vietnamese from Canada,hjaving lived in Canada for nearly 40 years, one of the world's leading developed countries alongside the United States, he realizes that the Vietnamese community in these two countries can quickly and effectively mobilize legal capital to reinvest in Vietnam.
Therefore, in his opinion, the State and relevant agencies need to study appropriate policies for investors in general and overseas Vietnamese in particular. For instance, for investment projects of 100 billion VND or more, consideration could be given to facilitating long-term entry and exit visas, the right to buy and sell real estate under the law like domestic citizens, and if there is a desire to apply for Vietnamese citizenship, the application could be reviewed and resolved within no more than 12 months.
At the ceremony celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Canada Vietnam Society on July 12, Vietnamese Ambassador to Canada Pham Vinh Quang highly appreciated the role of the Canada Vietnam Society in gathering intellectuals, entrepreneurs, scientists, and the Vietnamese community in Canada, while recognizing the Society's many practical activities towards the homeland. The Ambassador also expressed his hope that the Vietnamese community in Canada and North America, in general, will continue to unite and contribute more to the homeland.
According to Ambassador Pham Vinh Quang, whether or not there is a condition for direct investment, just always looking towards Vietnam and wishing for the country's development, strength, and prosperity is also an expression of patriotism.
 |
| Canada Vietnam Society celebrates its 10th anniversary. |
The overseas Vietnamese community also expressed gratitude to the Vietnamese Embassy in Canada and its staff for their active support in resolving legal procedures between Vietnam and the host country, as well as effectively carrying out citizen protection when necessary.
By 2025, overseas Vietnamese from about 30 countries and territories have invested approximately 1.95 billion USD in Vietnam in the processing and manufacturing sectors, not including investment projects through domestic enterprises.
The overseas Vietnamese community currently consists of about 6 million people living in over 130 countries and territories. Among them, professionals and intellectuals with university degrees or higher account for about 10% - 15%. It is estimated that around 650,000 engineers, doctors, PhDs, and experts are living and working in developed countries worldwide.
There is a dire need for investment capital from overseas Vietnamese with economic management experience, operational capacity, and legal capital transferred to Vietnam to jointly build and develop the country, promoting the flow of goods from domestic to international markets and vice versa. It is hoped that organizations and associations of overseas Vietnamese in developed countries such as North America, Europe, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Singapore will pay special attention, mobilize, and support investment activities back in the country.
