On the evening of January 20 (local time), right after arriving in Romania, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his wife had their first activities during their official visit. The Prime Minister visited and talked with officials and staff of the Embassy, ​​and representatives of the Vietnamese community in Romania. Although the meeting took place in the evening, since the afternoon, a large number of overseas Vietnamese had gathered at the Vietnamese Embassy headquarters, waiting to welcome Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his delegation. The auditorium where the meeting took place was full, with many people standing to share and listen to the opinions of the Prime Minister and his delegation.

Prime Minister meets overseas Vietnamese in Romania.

At the beginning of the meeting, Vietnamese Ambassador to Romania Do Duc Thanh said that the people and the embassy were looking forward to and were happy to welcome the Prime Minister back to visit a locality that he had been associated with for many years when he was a student and a diplomat . Although the Vietnamese community in Romania is not large, only about 600 people, they have promoted the tradition of solidarity, "mutual love", helping each other to stabilize their lives and always looking towards their roots and homeland. The Ambassador said that the relationship between Romania and Vietnam has been nearly 75 years and is still developing well, demonstrated through the signing of free trade and investment protection agreements, with two-way trade turnover increasing by 18% per year.

Ambassador Do Duc Thanh

Mr. Nguyen Van Toi, Chairman of the Vietnam Business Association in Romania, said that Romania's labor demand is very high, when many Vietnamese workers go abroad to work, the amount of remittances sent back to the country is very high. This is an opportunity for Vietnam's labor export activities. However, Mr. Toi also pointed out the reality that some Vietnamese workers break their contracts and go to a third country. He hopes that ministries and branches will find solutions to force workers to strictly comply with regulations when going to Romania to work. Responding to this content, Deputy Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Le Van Thanh said that there are currently about 700,000 Vietnamese workers working abroad. Romania is a very potential market, able to receive workers at many different levels with a good income compared to the general level. In fact, compliance with labor discipline in Romania is not good, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs has requested to rectify this, when sending people, it is necessary to train and manage to prevent workers from running away.

Mr. Nguyen Van Toi (left) asked questions about export and improving labor quality and Deputy Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Le Van Thanh answered.

Deputy Minister Le Van Thanh said that during the visit, the two sides are expected to sign a cooperation document in this field, thereby creating conditions to send more and more Vietnamese workers to Romania, both to better ensure the legitimate and legal rights and interests, and to raise awareness of law enforcement, discipline, and working style of Vietnamese workers. Speaking at the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh first respectfully conveyed the warm greetings, thoughtful greetings, and best wishes of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong to the Vietnamese community in Romania in particular and in Europe in general. The Prime Minister shared that the Vietnam-Romania relationship began in 1955, when the country was the first to mobilize hundreds of thousands of people to support Vietnam's struggle for national independence. Before the visit, the Prime Minister expressed his emotion when he saw photos of President Ho Chi Minh visiting Romania and seeing hundreds of thousands of Romanian people welcoming him. The affection between the people of the two countries has lasted nearly 75 years.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh speaks

Having lived, studied and worked in Romania, the Prime Minister emphasized that Romanian people are very kind, friendly and helpful to Vietnam. During the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Romania was willing to support Vietnam with 300,000 doses of vaccine. Therefore, it is necessary to preserve the image of Vietnamese people in Romania and promote the tradition of solidarity and cooperation between the two countries. When meeting Romanian leaders at international forums, the Prime Minister always asked the Romanian side to support and create favorable conditions for the Vietnamese community to do business and live. The Party and State always consider the Vietnamese community abroad an inseparable part of the Vietnamese ethnic community. This is a wise policy, a major policy to institutionalize, including the Land Law (amended) recently passed by the National Assembly , according to which Vietnamese people abroad have equal access to land with people in the country. The Prime Minister also raised the issue of preserving Vietnamese culture and language for the community because "If culture exists, the nation exists; if culture is lost, the nation is lost." The Prime Minister hopes that women will teach their children Vietnamese and preserve Vietnamese culture.

The Prime Minister and his wife took photos with overseas Vietnamese in Romania.

The Prime Minister was pleased that the Vietnamese community abroad is growing stronger, more prestigious, and maturing quickly. The Prime Minister requested the construction of a website for information about Vietnamese people here so that if there are any problems, they can respond quickly, especially recently when people "shared their food and clothes" to help many Vietnamese people in Ukraine come here. The Prime Minister shared that the Vietnamese community living, working, and doing business here also contributes to strengthening the relationship between the two countries. Regarding the labor issue, the Prime Minister stated that it is necessary to strictly manage labor, review, encourage labor export companies that do well, and strictly handle "ghost" companies and companies that operate illegally, and revoke their licenses. According to the Prime Minister, it is necessary to increase foreign language training for Vietnamese workers, equip and disseminate the laws of the host country, and skills to advocate for themselves when problems arise.

The Embassy presented Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh with a football jersey signed by player Gheorghe Hagi, a legend of Romanian football.

The Prime Minister requested the Vietnamese Embassy to take care of the people's affairs as if they were their own; to treat the people as family members in handling work; and not to have a bureaucratic attitude. The Prime Minister suggested that ethics and human feelings should be respected. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs should listen to the people's wishes and design appropriate policies. Tran Thuong from Bucharest, Romania