Luong Thanh Nghi, vice chairman of the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese (SCOV) announced the figure at a press conference held on December 26 on their activities over the past year.
With US$16.7 billion, Vietnam has been in the top ten remittance recipient countries in the world for the third year in a row. Ho Chi Minh City is the largest recipient of remittances in Vietnam receiving an estimated US$5.6 billion in 2019.
According to Nghi, in recent years the resources of Vietnamese business people and academics living abroad, have been strongly tapped into, especially Vietnamese of a relatively younger generation.
Vietnamese currently overseas, mainly in the US, Canada, Australia, Russia, France, the Netherlands, Poland and Switzerland, have invested a total of US$4 billion in roughly 3,000 enterprises in Vietnam.
Their businesses are primarily in the areas of manufacturing, trade, tourism, construction, property, aquafarming and seafood export, and software engineering.
Along with projects invested by overseas Vietnamese, remittances are an important resource to boost Vietnam’s economic development.
In 2019 a wide range of business and trade promotion events were held by overseas Vietnamese in many countries, helping to promote Vietnamese enterprises and brands to the global market.
Nghi said in 2020, the SCOV will boost its efforts to further tap into the resources of Vietnamese expatriates and effectively convey the Party and State’s policies and guidelines to them.
