Ambassador Đặng Đình Quý, head of the Vietnam Permanent Mission to the United Nations, has reaffirmed the value and vitality of Buddhist doctrines in the context that the world is facing conflicts, climate change and COVID-19 pandemic that are threatening human progress over the past decades.

The US Department of State has recently released the 2019 International Religious Freedom Report, which discussed Vietnam’s achievements and progress in ensuring and promoting religious values and various beliefs. However, the report contained biased, inaccurate, and unverified information regarding the current religious situation in the country.

The State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs (COVA) received 20,000 face masks offered by the Vietnamese Buddhist Cultural Center and the Vietnamese Buddhist Association in the Republic of Korea (RoK) to Vietnamese expats in the RoK to assist in the fight against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Ambassador Lê Thị Tuyết Mai, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the UN, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and other international organisations in Geneva, led a Vietnamese delegation to attend the 43rd session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland on June 15.

Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam has assigned the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to work with relevant agencies on the preparation of dossiers on two of Vietnam’s intangible cultural heritages for UNESCO recognition.

Vietnamese and Indian experts unearthed a Shiv Linga (a representation of the Hindu deity Shiva) dating back to the 9th century during the restoration of a Cham temple complex at My Son Sanctuary, a world cultural heritage site in central Quang Nam province.

The Asif Foundation organization from Australia on May 19 presented 140 kettles and 140 empty water tanks to poor people in Tan Thanh commune of Tan Phu Dong district, and Tan Phuoc and Tan Thanh communes of Go Cong Dong district in Tien Giang province.

Vietnamese and Indian experts on April 28 began restoration of a complex of towers considered the core area of the world cultural heritage site the My Son Sanctuary in the central province of Quang Nam.

Phat Tich Pagoda in Vientiane on April 24 presented relief aid to 250 Vietnamese in need in Laos who are facing difficulties caused by social distancing measures aimed to curb the spread of the COVID-19.

The Vietnam Ancestral Global Day was celebrated online in four major cities of Canada on April 11.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has started restoring five pagodas in the ancient city of Bagan, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Myanmar. The five Buddhist monuments were damaged during a devastating earthquake in 2016. 

The construction of a Vietnam-Cambodia Friendship Monument was commenced in Kampong Speu province in Cambodia on March 2.

Vietnam and the European Union held a human rights dialogue in Hanoi on February 19, during which both sides outlined their commitments to the protection and promotion of human rights and to overcoming challenges in this area for the betterment of their peoples and societies.

Scholars from Vietnam, India and other countries including Australia and Belgium exchanged views on Buddhism’s role as a social and cultural bridge and a source of global peace at an international conference in India’s Bhubaneswar city on February 8-9.

US Ambassador to Vietnam Daniel J. Kritenbrink on January 15 performed the Vietnamese traditional New Year ritual of releasing carps into a lake to bid farewell to the Kitchen Gods at Kim Lien pagoda in Hanoi.