Govt orders ministry to 'protect' Vietnamese stranded abroad

By Doan Loan, Viet Tuan February 7, 2022 | 07:38 pm PT

Vietnamese citizens on a repatriation flight from Indonesia, July 29, 2020. Photo by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The government has approved a Ministry of Foreign Affairs proposal to organize flights to repatriate Vietnamese facing difficult situations abroad and unable to return by commercial flights.

It in fact instructed the ministry to "develop policies and procedures to protect" Vietnamese stranded abroad.

According to the ministry, many Vietnamese are still stuck especially in the Middle East and Africa, including 200 in Saudi Arabia, 150 in Angola and 85 in the UAE.

The Ministry of Transport said during the past week foreign airlines operated 36 regular and irregular flights on which 2,055 Vietnamese citizens from Cambodia, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and the UAE arrived.

On Jan.1 Vietnam allowed regular flights from and to the U.S. and eight Asian destinations to resume in the first phase of a program to revive international travel.