Vietnamese in Cambodia lauded for overcoming life’s hardships

PHNOM PENH — National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong yesterday hailed Vietnamese living in Cambodia for their efforts to overcome difficulties while being abroad.

Trong made the comments while meeting with Viet kieu (Overseas Vietnamese) in Phnom Penh during an official trip to Cambodia.

The NA chairman said he sympathised with Viet kieu who faced difficulties while working to advance the homeland.

He affirmed the Party and State’s responsibility to the Vietnamese community living abroad, including Viet kieu in Cambodia.

Trong said he appreciated the Cambodian Viet kieu’s great attention to the country’s situation.

He also updated the meeting’s participants on the latest developments in Viet Nam, including preparations for the 12th National Assembly election and the assembly’s resolve to renew the organisation and its working methods.

The NA chairman said he expected the Vietnamese community in Cambodia to continue upholding their homeland’s tradition of mutual assistance.

On the occasion, Trong presented gifts from the NA to Vietnamese people in Cambodia partly aimed at helping them overcome their hardships.

Chairman of the Vietnamese association in Cambodia, Chau Van Chi said that while the Vietnamese community was far from their homeland, they always followed their country’s progress and felt happy with the major national achievements made during the period of renewal (doi moi).

Despite receiving care from the Party, State and NA, a majority of Vietnamese people living in Cambodia were poor and unskilled while also having to struggle with legal status issues.

Chi said he hoped to receive more aid, both material and spiritual, from Viet Nam, particularly in helping the children of Viet kieu to return to their homeland to study.

The Vietnamese group also pledged to work together to preserve Vietnamese cultural identity, obey local laws and contribute to boost ties between Cambodia and Viet Nam.

Chairman Trong also visited the Vietnamese Embassy in Cambodia and toured some historical relics and cultural sites in Phnom Penh.

City links

Economic co-operation across various fields between HCM City and Phnom Penh had seen increasing development, according to both Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh Municipal Party Committee Le Thanh Hai and Phnom Penh’s Mayor Kep Chuk Tema.

The two officials held talks in Phnom Penh on Sunday to discuss further co-operation.
Hai said authorities and businesses from both cities have spared no efforts in implementing co-operation agreements.

Several co-operation projects between the two cities had attained good results, especially a humanitarian programme on cataract surgery in Cambodia. A hospital, named after its sister hospital Cho Ray in HCM City, would be built with the city’s assistance in Phnom Penh.
Mayor Kep Chuk Tema reiterated the Phnom Penh municipal authorities’ incentives given to Vietnamese investors in the city.

Earlier, the HCM City delegation was received by King Norodom Sihamoni.

The King expressed his belief in the further development of relations between the two countries.

Hai said he believed Cambodia would gain achievements in national construction, also contributing to friendship and co-operation between the two countries and the two cities.

Hai invited King Norodom Sihamoni to visit HCM City in the near future. — VNS