Deputy Minister Nguyễn Hải Trung speaks at the conference

The event saw the presence of Chairman of the Government Committee for Religious Affairs Vũ Hoài Bắc, Deputy Heads of GCRA Trần Thị Minh Nga, Nguyễn Tiến Trọng, and representatives of Departments of Ethnic and Religious Affairs, and Home Affairs in 19 provinces and cities from Hanoi to Quang Tri.

Chairman of GCRA Vũ Hoài Bắc speaks at the gathering conference

As reported, the Law on Belief and Religion was adopted by the National Assembly of Vietnam on November 18, 2016, and came into effect on January 1, 2018. After nearly 08 years of implementation, the belief & religious law has given rise to a number of difficulties and problems that need to be amended to suit the state administration on belief & religion in the new situation.

During the conference, Deputy Minister Nguyễn Hải Trung stated three key policy updates in the amended law, including belief and religious practices in cyberspace, simplification of administrative procedures and digital transformation in the field of belief and religion.

Overview of the conference

According to Chairman of GCRA Vũ Hoài Bắc, the currently Law on Belief & Religion has not yet issued regulations on belief and religious activities in cyberspace. However, in recent years, religious practices on cyberspace have become increasingly popular, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak. In addition, several provisions of the belief & religious law relating to the authority of the People's Committee at the district level are no longer appropriate, and that need to be amended and supplemented to implement the decentralization for ensuring freedom of belief & religion and improving the state administration in the field of belief & religion.

Deputy Head of the Home Affairs Department in Hung Yen province Đinh Thị Hoàn speaks at the conference

Professor Đỗ Quang Hưng of the Social Sciences and Humanities University - Vietnam National University, Hanoi speaks at the conference

The gathering conference drew many comments on the three key policy updates in the amended law, including the supplementation of specific regulations on principles for organizing religious practices in cyberspace, regulations on the time of holding the position of representative and member of the management board of religious establishments and religious gathering venues, and simplifying administrative procedures in the field of belief & religion…

Speaking at the conference, Deputy Minister Nguyễn Hải Trung highlighted that the completion of the law on belief & religion aims to institutionalize state policies & laws on belief & religion, meet religious demands of belief & religious practices of individuals and groups, diversify forms of religious practices associated with the promotion of administrative procedure reform, digital transformation, and building of e-Government towards digital Government and organizational models of agencies after the arrangement.

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