Since the Baha’i Community of Vietnam has been recognised as a religious organisation by the Government, the entire community has entered a new development stage and gained numerous achievements in a wide range of its activities.

Nguyen Thuc, Chief of the provisional representative board of the Baba’i Community of Vietnam, made the comment at the Baha’i third congress in the Mekong delta city of Can Tho on May 2.

Wherever Baha’is live and practise their faith, they have established a good relationship with authorities at all levels, thus diversifying their community’s religious activities in a manner that is in line with the State’s policies on religion and belief and legal regulations, Thuc said.

More than 300 Baha’i followers nationwide attended their community’s third congress, which also saw the participation of representatives of the Government’s Committee for Religious Affairs and the Baha’i advisory board for Asia and leaders of Can Tho City.

Addressing the event, Dang Tai Tinh, Head of the International Cooperation Department of the Government’s Committee for Religious Affairs, said the Vietnamese State has always respected the rights of its citizens to freedom of belief and religion and ensured that these rights are exercised in line with laws in Vietnam .

He cited Charter adopted by the Baha’i Community of Vietnam as saying that “the principles, goals, and guidelines of the Baha’i Vietnam Community embrace the spirit of solidarity and national reconciliation of religions for the sake of the nation’s economic development.”

The government official affirmed that these principles, goals, and guidelines have served as important orientations guiding Baha’is and their grassroots organisations to operate in line with the teachings and rules of Baha’i faith and Vietnamese laws to build the country more prosperous.

The representative of the Baha’i advisory board for Asia spoke highly of the Vietnamese Government and State’s assistance to facilitate the Baha’i Community of Vietnam to carry out activities to expand and strengthen its communities in various areas in Vietnam .

At the congress, the participants elected a nine-member National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Vietnam for the 2010-2011 term.

A host of tasks were set, with the emphasis on mobilizing Baha’is to live up to the motto of “living both secular and religious lives well”, and maintain the nation’s great unity and solidarity with other religions.

The Baha’i Community of Vietnam has been recognised as a religious organisation by the Government’s Committee for Religious Affairs in July 2008.

Introduced into Vietnam in 1954, the Baha’i community now has about 7,000 followers in 43 cities and provinces, mostly in central and southern regions. It has 80 provisional boards at grassroots communities./.