Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has taken a major and positive step towards reuniting members of the 3.5 million overseas Vietnamese community.
This follows the recent signing of a co-operation agreement between Vietnam and the International Organisation for Immigration (IOM), a United Nations organisation.
Speaking to IOM director general William Lacy Swing, who has been visiting Vietnam, Dung said the wish of many people to re-unite with their families after years of separation caused by war was a legitimate desire, and that Vietnam considered IOM an active partner in settling issues relating to immigration.
He said that was why Vietnam wanted the IOM to support those people to re-unite with their loved ones living in Vietnam - and for those living in Viet Nam who wished to join their families abroad.
Dung also told his guest that with a population of some 87 million people - about two-thirds of them at working age - the demand to go abroad to work as guest workers was high.
He told the IOM director general he hoped his organisation would help Vietnam with immigration procedures so that more Vietnamese workers could work overseas. "This is in the interests of both workers and host countries," he said.
Dung urged the IOM to co-operate closer with Vietnam in the fight against woman and child trafficking and to support the One United Nations initiative in which Vietnam has been selected as a pilot country.
The Prime Minister said he was convinced that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations would soon join the IOM and asked for the IOM director general\'s support.
William Lacy Swing offered his organisation\'s total support for the proposals raised by the Prime Minister.
He said it was willing to offer its services in the field of immigration by tightening co-operation in transferring Vietnamese nationals from disputed areas in other nations - or in natural disaster zones overseas.
The IOM is the world\'s main intergovernmental migration group. It was established in 1951 as the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration to help resettle people displaced by World War II.
Internet sources state that it promotes humane and orderly migration by providing services and advice to governments and migrants. It assists in the search for practical solutions to migration problems and provides humanitarian assistance to migrants in need, be they refugees, displaced persons or other uprooted people.
The IOM constitution recognises the link between migration and economic, social and cultural development,as well as to the right of freedom of movement of persons.
IOM\'s history tracks the man-made and natural disasters of the past half century - Hungary 1956, Czechoslovakia 1968, Chile 1973, the Vietnamese Boat People 1975, Kuwait 1990, Kosovo and Timor 1999, and the Asian tsunami and Pakistan earthquake of 2004/2005.
On the same day, a co-operation agreement between Vietnam and the International Organisation for Migration was signed in Hanoi.
The signatories were Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Thanh Son and organisation director general William Lacy Swing.
Swing was also received by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem.
Khiem said the accord demonstrated the growing ties between Vietnam and the organisation.
By signing the accord, Vietnam confirmed its consistent policy of promoting legal migration and resolutely combating illegal migration and human trafficking and at the same time protecting the legitimate rights and interests of Vietnamese migrants, Khiem said. Swing pledged his organisation would work actively with Vietnam in deploying the agreement effectively to better serve Vietnam\'s needs in managing migration on a national, regional and global scale.
He said he highly valued the Vietnamese foreign ministry\'s support for the organisation\'s activities in Vietnam.
Vietnam became the organisation\'s 122nd member in 2007. The organisation posted a representaive mission in Hanoi in 1991 following the two sides\'agreement.
Source: VNS