Including 20,000 face masks, the gifts were passed on to the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs (COVA) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) at a ceremony in Ha Noi on June 22.

In his remarks to the gathering, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and head of the COVA Dang Minh Khoi lauded the support from the center and the association and said Vietnamese Buddhism has worked side-by-side with the government and people to counter the disease.

Thanks to the efforts of the entire country as well as the government’s leadership, Vietnam has been successful in the fight so far, he said, adding that many agencies, organisations and individuals in and outside Vietnam have donated medical supplies to help overseas Vietnamese cope with the pandemic.

Such good deeds affirm the Party and State’s policy of considering overseas Vietnamese an integral part of the country, Khoi stressed.

According to the committee, Vietnamese living overseas has contributed more than 35 billion VND (1.5 million USD) as well as medical supplies to help with the fight against the epidemic at home.

The Vietnamese community in the RoK raised over 160 million VND in support of the fight in their homeland.

Meanwhile, many businesses, organizations, and individuals at home have also raised funds for Vietnamese in the UK, France, Russia, the US, and the RoK.