Vietnam - Cambodia cooperate to support ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia

Creating conditions for Vietnamese people in Cambodia to live stably and legally in Cambodia; supporting scholarships; building schools to teach Vietnamese and Khmer languages... These are activities to support Vietnamese people that Vietnam and Cambodia are interested in cooperating with, thereby contributing to fostering good neighborly relations, traditional friendship, comprehensive cooperation, and long-term sustainability between the two countries.

Building a "green nursery" school

In Cambodia, there are currently 11 schools and 11 classrooms for children of Vietnamese origin. At theseeducational institutions, children study from grade 1 to grade 5 in both Vietnamese and Khmer. After completing the program, many children are given the opportunity by local authorities to continue studying at public schools. According to teacher Thach Thi Lan, Principal of Tan Tien Khmer - Vietnam Friendship Primary School (Phnom Penh, Cambodia), learning Vietnamese and Khmer are both important. If they are good at both languages, they will be able to integrate into Cambodian society, while preserving their national cultural identity and having the opportunity to work in large enterprises.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Thi Thu Hang and the delegation visited a class on Tonle Sap Lake in the floating village of Kbal Tao, Battambang province (Cambodia). (Photo: Son Hai)

To help compatriots, many provinces, cities and educational institutions in Vietnam have supported scholarships for students of Vietnamese origin to continue their university studies. According to the Khmer - Vietnamese Association in Cambodia, to date, more than 250 students have received scholarships in Vietnam, some of whom have completed their master's degrees. Many students, after graduating, have returned to Cambodia and have been employed by large Vietnamese enterprises investing in the area. The Cambodian government also creates conditions for people of Vietnamese origin to live stably and legally. On August 29, 2022, the Cambodian Ministry of Interior issued Notice 2181 to recognize the value of permanent residence cards for foreigners in Cambodia, including the Vietnamese community living in Cambodia. The Cambodian Ministry of Interior requested relevant ministries, agencies, local administrative agencies and the private sector to accept permanent residence cards for foreigners in Cambodia as legal documents for daily use. This is an important announcement for the Vietnamese community in Cambodia, creating conditions for the Vietnamese community to have a more solid legal status when living in the host country.

Timely support people to remove obstacles and stabilize their lives

According to the report of the Khmer - Vietnamese Association in Cambodia, the Vietnamese community in Cambodia currently has more than 103,000 people, a community with a long history. In high-level exchanges between the leaders of the two countries, the issue of supporting Vietnamese people in Cambodia was mentioned. The leaders of the Vietnamese Party and State requested the Cambodian government to provide further support, especially in the resettlement work with a full and appropriate roadmap and conditions to ensure the lives of people after relocation, linking relocation with career conversion so that people can have a stable life and long-term livelihood.

Representatives of Vietnamese people in Cambodia at a meeting with National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue in November 2022. (Photo: Doan Tan)

In November 2022, meeting with the Vietnamese community during his official visit to the Kingdom of Cambodia, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue shared: The Cambodian Prime Minister strongly supports the initiative of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to transfer technology for terrestrial aquaculture and propose Vietnamese enterprises to invest in animal feed factories for terrestrial aquaculture. It is expected that these projects will create more livelihoods and jobs for people. He said that it is necessary to continue to pay attention to removing obstacles in handling legal documents to speed up the naturalization of eligible people. The Cambodian Prime Minister also said in talks with Vietnamese leaders that every 7 years of continuous living and working in Cambodia is eligible for naturalization. In 2022, Cambodia naturalized about 100 people, including Vietnamese citizens. Therefore, the Embassy's agencies need to clearly understand your regulations, support people with procedures and legalities, ensure legal procedures and stabilize their lives in Cambodia. During her working trip to Cambodia from November 30 to December 3, 2023, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Thi Thu Hang, Chairwoman of the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese, hopes that the Cambodian side, especially local authorities at all levels, through the Khmer-Vietnamese Association in Cambodia and in coordination with Vietnamese representative agencies in Cambodia, will step up the work of mobilizing and propagating people of Vietnamese origin to comply with the laws, policies and guidelines of Cambodia, especially the contents related to the registration, extension of alien cards, and policies on relocating people out of river areas.

On the morning of December 11, 2023, after the welcoming ceremony at the Presidential Palace, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh held talks with Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Moha Bovor Thipadei Hun Manet, who is on an official visit to Vietnam. On this occasion, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh thanked and requested the Cambodian Government to continue to pay attention and create favorable conditions for people of Vietnamese origin to live and do business stably and legally in Cambodia, integrate well with the local community and serve as a bridge of friendship between the two countries.