Ambassador Duong Chinh Chuc visits Team Africa farm. (Photo: Embassy of Vietnam in Angola)

Reporter: First of all, how does the Ambassador evaluate the Vietnamese community in Angola and their contributions to the host country? Ambassador Duong Chinh Chuc: In the 80s to the early 2000s, we had about 50,000 Vietnamese people living and working in Angola. This number gradually decreased and stopped at nearly 20,000 people before the Covid-19 pandemic. To date, there are nearly 10,000 Vietnamese people in this African country. The first generation of Vietnamese people in Angola were medical and educational experts. They lived and worked long-term in Angola. After that, their families, friends, and neighbors came to live and work with them. Most of them came to work for hire and quite a few of them were small traders, medium-sized enterprises, and even large enterprises. Their industries are quite diverse, the most common being construction, auto repair shops, followed by food production, and civil service activities. The Vietnamese community in Angola is the largest in Africa, living in solidarity and mutual love. They are beautiful bridges of friendship between the two countries, not only maintaining good relations with the local government but also participating in many public activities, social contributions, and supporting development in localities. Leaders at all levels of Angola highly appreciate their contributions to the socio-economic development of Angola in general and localities in particular. The majority of people in the community are diligent, hardworking, comply with the laws of the two countries, support and comply with the guidelines and policies of our Party, especially actively participating in patriotic movements, looking towards the homeland, helping each other... initiated by the Embassy and domestic agencies.

Ambassador Duong Chinh Chuc visits Team Africa farm. (Photo: Embassy of Vietnam in Angola)

Reporter: How has the Vietnamese Embassy cared for and supported the Vietnamese community in recent times, Ambassador? Ambassador Duong Chinh Chuc: The Vietnamese Embassy in Angola always strives to support the Vietnamese community in Angola, helping them have a safe and stable life here. The Embassy actively creates conditions for the Vietnamese community to have many opportunities to meet and contact delegations from Vietnam visiting Angola to listen to and grasp information, and better understand the situation in the country. We are working with the community to promote the consolidation of the Executive Committee of the Vietnamese Association in Angola, the establishment of the Vietnamese Business Association in Angola and a number of other related associations, and the establishment of a Vietnamese Trade Center in Angola to support businesses and small traders. Reporter: Dear Ambassador, recently, the activities of Pham Quang Linh and the African Team in Huambo province have received many positive reviews from the community. After visiting the farm area and meeting Quang Linh and the African Team, what is your assessment of the group's activities? Ambassador Duong Chinh Chuc: Quang Linh, Team Africa are beautiful stories. They can also be miracles, myths for the local people. Saying that so we can imagine the meaning of what they are doing here. There are also other groups operating like that in Angola and are commonly called the Team Africa Community to refer to the members of the Team and the associates and collaborators of this Team. At the end of August 2023, I and some Embassy officials along with some Vietnamese businesses in Luanda province and some provinces visited Huambo. The purpose of the visit was to greet and work with the Governor of Huambo, visit some economic, cultural and social establishments of the province, meet and exchange with the Vietnamese community in Huambo and visit Quang Linh's farm. We were enthusiastically supported by Mr. Luong Van Tien, Nguyen Dong and the group, so we understood much more about what they were doing in Huambo, with quite diverse and meaningful activities.

Ambassador Duong Chinh Chuc visits Team Africa farm. (Photo: Embassy of Vietnam in Angola)

They set up a farm with fields, ponds and barns, including many seedlings brought from Vietnam. Many Angolans worked on the farm. They were hired, paid for each day of work and were instructed in farming techniques. Most of the harvested products were divided among the villagers, some were sold to cover expenses, and some were for their own use. The farm had enough machinery, plows, and harrows. All the investment funds were from Quang Linh and the other members of the Team. They also set up fields, planted crops, provided seeds and handed them over to the villagers. Education was also an area that left a deep impression. The members of the group used their own money and donations to build schools, turning mud-built schools without desks and chairs into school complexes with built classrooms, tiled roofs, spacious desks and chairs, gardens, electricity, and wells for domestic water. The completed schools were handed over to the villages for self-management. All the fields and schools assigned to the villages are regularly visited by the Team to support. At the Team's office area and the places where the members go, events are held to introduce Vietnamese culture and cuisine; including dishes that are completely new in terms of ingredients and cooking methods, and dishes with the same ingredients but different cooking methods, which are very popular with the Angolan people. I think that everyone can have a good heart and want to help others, but to turn those positive thoughts into practical actions, one must have great enthusiasm and determination. The members of the African Team Community have all of those elements. What they do is truly a miracle. They are the peace messengers of Vietnam, the bridge of friendship connecting the people of Vietnam and Angola. I hope that similar activities will be replicated, not only from projects of existing groups but also from new groups, not only in Huambo but also in many other localities of Angola and in other African countries, true to the name of the Team Africa Community. The Vietnamese Embassy in Angola has been and will continue to accompany them and support them, creating all favorable conditions for them. These are also specific actions in implementing the direction of the Party, State and Ministry of Foreign Affairs leaders in the development of the Vietnamese community abroad.

Reporter: Thank you, Ambassador!