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On October 11, the Institute for Global Engagement (IGE) met with an official delegation from Vietnam to have a candid discussion on the status of religious freedom in the country. The meeting was hosted by the Embassy of Vietnam in Washington, DC, and included the Vice Minister of Home Affairs Vu Chien Thang and officials from the Committee on Religious Affairs, Ministry of Public Security, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There were also religious leaders from the Evangelical, Catholic, Buddhist, Cao Dai, Hoa Hao, and Muslim communities in Vietnam.

Vice Minister Thang expressed appreciation to IGE for its training programs on religion and the rule of law conducted over the past several years at the provincial and district levels for government officials and religious leaders. IGE and the delegation also discussed ideas for future projects on improving religious freedom in Vietnam. At the end of the meeting, IGE president emeritus Chris Seiple presented a gift of IGE’s publication The Routledge Handbook of Religious Literacy, Pluralism and Global Engagement which contains lessons and experiences from IGE’s work in Vietnam over the past two decades.

Vietnam’s Committee for Religious Affairs’ report on all of the delegation’s meetings in the U.S., including with IGE, was posted on their website (in Vietnamese) here.