Hanoi (VNA) – The bestpossible conditions will be created for overseas Vietnamese (OVs) to return tothe homeland with safety from the pandemic ensured, especially now that the LunarNew Year festival is just around the corner, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Quang Hieu has said.

Talking to the Vietnam NewsAgency, the Chairman of the State Committee for OV Affairs also saidrepatriating OVs amid the COVID-19 pandemic is a major policy of the Party andState.

During the recent overseastrips by Vietnamese leaders, OVs expressed their wish to visit the homeland, attracting great attention from Party and State leaders who have orderedmaximum conditions be created.

He noted that amid thecomplex pandemic situation around the world, including Vietnam, the Ministry ofForeign Affairs (MoFA) has worked with relevant ministries and sectors toarrange many flights repatriating those with special disadvantages,particularly the workers losing their jobs to the pandemic.

In 2021, MoFA coordinatedwith the ministries of national defence, health, public security, and transport in organising 173 flights repatriating over 50,000 people of the priority groups. Besides, another 400 flightsbrought home about 70,000 others. All of those people went to quarantine facilities right after their arrival back to the country.

Hieu said to meet OVs’ demandfor returning to the homeland for the Lunar New Year festival - a traditional occasionfor family reunion, as directed by Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Pham BinhMinh, MoFA and related agencies have been working to resume regularinternational flights to the places with high pandemic safety, firstlyBeijing/Guangzhou (China), Tokyo, Seoul,Taipei(Taiwan, China), Bangkok, Singapore, Vientiane, Phnom Penh,and San Francisco/Los Angeles (the US), starting on January 1, 2022.

However, as demand among theexpatriates is even greater, the ministries have proposed more internationalflights, aside from those linking with the nine above-mentioned places, beconducted in the form of charter flights to bring home OVs from other countrieslike what was done in 2020 and the first half of last year, with compliancewith anti-pandemic rules ensured.

To do this, on December 16,2021, the Ministry of Health issued guidance on COVID-19 prevention and controlfor people entering Vietnam. Accordingly, those who have been fully vaccinatedonly have to carry out quarantine at their home for three days while the unvaccinated onesmust stay at concentrated quarantine sites for a longer period of time. Besides, MoFA is also discussing the “vaccine passport” recognition with othercountries’ authorities so as to facilitate OVs’ travel, the Deputy Ministerwent on.

As the pandemic remains complicated,especially now that many new coronavirus variants have appeared, and countries aretaking different response actions, the repatriation must be aligned with the situation,he noted, adding that the most important thing is to provide the best possibleconditions for OVs to travel with ensured pandemic safety./.