Deputy Minister Vũ Chiến Thắng receives Cuban ambassador in Vietnam

11/02/2020

Deputy Minister Vũ Chiến Thắng hosted on October 30 a reception at Ministry of Home Affairs’s headquarters for visiting Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Cuba in Vietnam Lianys Torres Rivera.

Joining the reception included officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Government Committee for Religious Affairs.

During the reception, Deputy Minister Vũ Chiến Thắng and Ambassador Lianys Torres Rivera had exchanges on the religious life and the state administration on religion in two countries.

Ambassador Lianys Torres Rivera highlighted the Cuban Party’s guidelines and the State’s policies on religion which have many similarities to Vietnam, such as the respect for everyone's right to freedom of religion and the right to follow or not to follow religion; the creation of favorable conditions for religious organizations to repair and build worshiping establishments, promote religion via media in accordance with the law; and the encouragement of religions to practical contributions to education and social security works.

The Cuban ambassador also expressed hope that two countries would strengthen the cooperation in the state administration on religion.

Speaking with Ambassador Lianys Torres Rivera, Deputy Minister Vũ Chiến Thắng informed that there are 26 million religious followers in Vietnam, accounting for about 27% of the population and stated that Vietnamese government considers religion as a social resource for developing the country.

By ensuring religious equity, Vietnam has obtained fundamental achievements in promoting the role of religions in the national construction and defense.

During the last two waves of Covid-19 pandemic, religious organizations have actively instructed religious and followers to strictly abide by the Prime Minister's instructions and donated cash and necessities value at tens of billion VND for the prevention of pandemic, the Deputy Minister said.

He also added that international relations of religious organizations have been maintained and developed. More and more international religious events and festivals have taken place in Vietnam such as: the UN Day of Vesak; General Chapter of the Dominicans Order of Preachers, the Asia-Oceania Congress of Esperanto, etc.

Deputy Minister Vũ Chiến Thắng and Ambassador Lianys Torres Rivera agreed on maintaining information exchanges and strengthening cooperation between two religious affairs agencies; contributing to traditional relations of the two Parties, States and People of the two countries.