At the event (Photo: baoquocte.vn)
The conference received 15 presentations of scientists and religious dignitaries, focusing on the situation of international relations activities and supporting overseas Vietnamese religious followers in religious activities, preservation and promotion of the national culture in the overseas Vietnamese community; advantages and disadvantages of the overseas Vietnamese community’s religious activities in association with the national culture preservation and promotion; and proposing some solutions to support the overseas Vietnamese community’s belief and religious activities in the coming time.
Venerable Thich Duc Thien, Vice President and Secretary General of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha Central Committee, said that the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha now has Buddhist associations and Buddhist cultural centers of the Vietnamese community in 33 countries and regions.
Every year, the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha organizes many delegations to visit countries, teaching Buddhism and holding ceremonies to pray for peace, Lunar New Year Festival, Buddha's birthday, and Vu Lan Festival to serve overseas Vietnamese at Buddhist cultural centers in countries, opening Vietnamese language classes for the 2nd and 3rd generations of Vietnamese people in foreign countries.
According to Mr. Dinh Hoang Linh, Head of the Department of Cultural Information under State Commission for Overseas Vietnamese, in recent years, the Commission has always paid attention to preserving and promoting the identity and traditional culture of the nation, preserving the Vietnamese language for the overseas Vietnamese community, in order to promote the image of the country, people and culture of Vietnam to the world, as well as recommend policies and measures to preserve cultural identity and uphold cultural values of Vietnam, building the movement of teaching and learning the Vietnamese language in the overseas Vietnamese community.
Speaking at the workshop, Deputy Head of the Government Committee for Religious Affairs Tran Thi Minh Nga acknowledged and highly appreciated ideas as well as the presentations at the workshop.
She emphasized that these are basis for the Government Committee for Religious Affairs to gather and propose appropriate guidelines and policies in supporting religious and belief activities of overseas Vietnamese in aspects such as teaching Vietnamese language, opening Vietnamese cultural centers, supporting religious dignitaries and officials to go abroad, as well as overseas Vietnamese returning home, to participate in religious activities.
The Overseas Vietnamese community now has about 5.3 million people living and working in 130 countries and territories, of which over 2.5 million are religious followers./.