At the visiting reception

At the visiting reception, Ambassador Rashad Hussain thanked the proactive coordination and assistance from the Home Affairs Ministry of Vietnam and highly appreciated coordinated results between the two sides over the past years. He also expressed hope that the two sides will further promote the cooperative relation, especially within the comprehensive strategic partnership between Vietnam and the U.S., in order to resolve issues related to religious freedom in Vietnam in the coming time.

At the reception, Deputy Minister Vũ Chiến Thắng highlighted outstanding results in dialogues on religious freedom between government agencies of the two countries that has contributed to the joint statement of the two countries on the comprehensive strategic partnership.

As reported, since then the two sides have strengthened cooperation in the field of religion including the working trip of government officials and religious dignitaries led by Deputy Minister Vũ Chiến Thắng to the U.S. from October 10-22, 2023, and the meeting between the deputy minister and U.S. Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Allison Peters to Hanoi on August 30.

At working meetings during the visits, the deputy minister and the U.S. side had frank exchanges on issues related to the religious freedom with respect for differences and high appreciation for mutual understanding.

The Deputy Minister affirmed that the Home Affairs Ministry and concerning Vietnamese agencies would throughly work with the U.S. side for looking into the nature of issues raised by the U.S..

The Deputy Minister stated that Vietnam is commited ​​to ensure the religious freedom for all Vietnamese and promote the resources of religions to build and protect the Fatherland.

Specifiallly, even people deprived of their civil rights in detention and temporary detention camps in Vietnam are guaranteed the right to express their religious belief, and the State of Vietnam has brought thousands of religious books to hundreds of detention and temporary detention facilities in order to meet the need of practicing religion of prisoners, he added.

Posing for group photo

Responding to a few local incidents related to religion mentioned by the U.S. Ambassador, the Deputy Minister said these incidents were just individual cases due to limited understanding and lack of experience of grassroots public servants, and not reflecting on the general picture of reality or a policy of the State, and  the local government has handled these violations by public servants  according to the state laws. The Prime Minister also has approved a project on professional training for public servants tasked with religious affairs at commune, district and provincial levels to enhance awareness and skills on religious affairs, he stated.

Deputy Minister Vũ Chiến Thắng expressed his hope that Ambassador Rashad Hussain would convey to the U.S. Department of State objective information about religious practices in Vietnam which reflecting on religious freedom practically guaranteed in Vietnam according to the state laws, fine traditions and international commitments, as well as cooperation agreement between Vietnam and the U.S. He asked the Ambassador to support Vietnam’s early removal from the special watch list (WSL) and not put the country on the list of countries of special concern (CPC).

NL