State President kicks off Homeland Spring program

PANO – Hundreds of overseas Vietnamese people from different countries and territories gathered in the August Revolution Square in Hanoi on January 31^st to join this year's Homeland Spring program.

Present at the event were State President Truong Tan Sang, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh and other representatives from ministries and branches.

Deputy PM Pham Binh Minh delivering the opening speech. Photo: Huu Duong

Delivering the opening speech, Minh underlined the overseas Vietnamese peoples’ contributions to the national construction cause over the past time, adding that in the coming years, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would continue taking care of the Vietnamese expatriates as a non-separate part of the country.

Meanwhile, State President Truong Tan Sang welcomed the Vietnamese expats to the program and briefed them on the country’s socio-economic and cultural achievements. He affirmed that overseas Vietnamese people have made great contributions to these results.

The leader took this occasion to extend Lunar New Year or Tet greetings to all overseas Vietnamese people, and believed that Vietnamese people living at home and abroad would stand side by side to develop the country and heighten its prestige in regional and international arenas.

After that, he beat the drum to officially open the program.

President Truong Tan Sang beating the drum open the program. Photo: Huu Duong

At the ceremony, Tran Bang from France shared that he has been working in France for 15 years and this was the first time he had returned to the homeland for a traditional Tet festival. He saw this year’s Tet holiday as more cheerful as the 12^th National Party Congress has been successfully concluded, and hoped that in the new tenure the new Party Central Committee and leaders of the Party and State would continually help develop the country while firmly protecting the national sovereignty over sea and islands.

Agreeing with Bang’s opinion, both Nguyen Viet, Deputy Chairman of the Association of the Vietnamese people in Slovakia, and Victoria Huong Lee, Director of the Phoenix Lacquers & Paints MFG Pty. Ltd. in Sydney, Australia, were very moved and pleased to see the development of the country and the care of leaders and people at home for Vietnamese people worldwide.

The Homeland Spring program takes place every year to welcome those returning home for the country's Tet holiday, organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese.