General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and State President To Lam appreciated the contributions made by overseas Vietnamese (OV) intellectuals in the Francophone countries to the homeland while meeting them on October 5 (local time) as part of his trip to France for attendance at the 19th Francophonie Summit and an official visit to the country.

At the event, he said his working trip aims to affirm Vietnam’s role as a key and responsible member of the Francophone community in the Asia – Pacific region as well as the country’s positive engagement in the community’s activities, attributing the achievements that Vietnam has carved out over the past time to the sound leadership of the Party, efforts of the whole political system and people from all walks of life, support from international friends and valuable contributions from the OV intellectuals and experts.

Vietnam will focus its resouces for the completion of the goals set at the 13th National Party Congress to create a new era – an era of the nation’s rise, he underscored, expressing his delight over the strong development of the OV community while affirming their important role in concretising the national development goals.

The Party and State recognise that “intellectuals are the vital force of the nation” and the OV community is a valuable asset and an important resource of the country, the top leader stressed.

He took the occasion to call on the OVs to continue promoting their roles in bridging the relations between Vietnam and Francophone countries so as to bring practical benefits to the nation.

He said he hopes that the intellectuals will continue bringing home advanced technologies, the OV businessmen will take more Vietnamese goods to the world while artists will make contributions to preserving and promoting the Vietnamese language in the Francophone space, helping bolster diversity in culture and language.

At the meeting, the OV intellectuals shared their experiences and put forth initiatives and policies regarding multilateral cooperation in the domains of technology, AI, business establishment, growth and development as well as highlighted challenges in the development the Internet of Things (IoT) to create economic growth, among others./.