In international integration and people-to-people diplomacy, nearly 6.5 million Vietnamese living abroad constitute a strategic resource and a form of soft power for the country. Contributing to the Draft Documents of the 14th National Party Congress, many recommendations called for strengthened coordination between representative missions and associations, promoting the role of the OV community in cultural and scientific diplomacy, advancing Vietnamese values, and developing a network of “people’s ambassadors” to help spread the image of a creative, humanitarian, and integrated Viet Nam.
According to Nguyen Trung Kien, Chairman of the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese (SCOV), compared with the past — when policies largely focused on outreach — the current approach has shifted strongly towards building mechanisms, environments, and favourable conditions that allow overseas Vietnamese to proactively contribute and directly participate in the nation’s development. Summarising the opinions of overseas Vietnamese, associations, networks, groups of experts, intellectuals, entrepreneurs, and students, Nguyen Trung Kien affirmed that the feedback reflects their sense of responsibility, trust, and aspiration to contribute to the Homeland, vividly demonstrating the deep emotional attachment of overseas Vietnamese to their country.
“All the opinions reflect trust, affection, responsibility, and the aspiration to walk alongside the Homeland. For many, contributing to the draft documents is an opportunity to express patriotism and the collective wisdom of the global Vietnamese community,” he shared. The OV community highly values the new orientations outlined in the draft documents, emphasising the three pillars of science–technology, innovation, and digital transformation, seeing them as central drivers of the new development model.
Several recommendations such as formulating a national strategy on talent and innovation, connecting intellectual resources at home and abroad, proposing a “knowledge repatriation” policy to bring Vietnamese expertise back to serve the country, encouraging overseas Vietnamese experts and intellectuals to participate in national development, issuing mechanisms to protect those who dare to think and dare to act, and developing a national innovation ecosystem and regional and national research centres, have sparked strong interest and lively discussion.
SCOV Chairman Nguyen Trung Kien noted it can be said that the contributions of the OV community are both theoretical and highly practical. They reflect confidence in the renewal pathway and the expectation that the 14th National Party Congress will continue to affirm the role of the OV community in the country’s development strategy, thereby contributing to strengthening the great national unity bloc and spreading Viet Nam’s values and image internationally.
