A meeting will be organised on March 9 in Buon Ma Thuot city, Dak Lak province to honour 101 individuals from 19 ethnic minority groups in the Central Highlands, including 43 religious dignitaries, who have made outstanding contributions to the national building and defence.

The event, organised by the Steering Committee for the Central Highlands region, is part of activities to mark the 40th anniversary of the Victory of Buon Ma Thuot, which forms part of the National Reunification event 40 years ago.

The information was revealed at a working session between the Steering Committee’s standing members and local and central press agencies in Buon Ma Thuot on March 4.

Deputy Head of the Committee Tran Viet Hung asked the press to popularise widely practical programmes and movements that aim to draw greater participation from the ethnic minority people and religious dignitaries in socio-economic development.

The Central Highlands counts over 2 million religious followers, accounting for 36 percent of the total population, with nearly 500,000 from ethnic minority groups.

Vietnam is home to many religions and beliefs, mainly Buddhism, with 6.8 million followers, Catholicism (5.7 million), Hoa Hao (1.4 million), Cao Dai (808,000), Protestantism (734,000), Islam (73,000), and Brahmanism (56,000).-VNA