VietNamNet Bridge – The Viet Nam–Vatican Joint Working Group convened its fourth round of meetings at the Vatican last week, as part of an agreement reached at the previous round of meetings in Ha Noi in February last year.

Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son meets Vatican Under-Secretary for Relations with States Antoine Camilleri. (Source: VNA)

Vatican Under-Secretary for Relations with States Antoine Camilleri and Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son co-chaired the round of meetings.

The Vietnamese side stressed that the Communist Party of Viet Nam (CPV) and the State of Viet Nam pursue the perfection of policies that respect and ensure religious freedom for all people, as well as encouraging all religions in general and the Vietnamese Catholic Church in particular to actively engage in socio-economic development and national construction.

The Vatican side said they highly valued the relevant Vietnamese agencies for facilitating the Vietnamese Catholic Church's activities over the past time, especially the 10th Plenary Assembly of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences in Xuan Loc and HCM City in December, 2012, as well as the visits made by Vatican non-resident Special Envoy to Viet Nam, Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli.

The Holy See stressed the desire to develop Viet Nam–Vatican ties and the need to appoint a Vatican Special Envoy to Viet Nam.

The two sides shared their view that bilateral ties had developed positively in the spirit of goodwill and constructive dialogue and respecting principles in their relations. The Vatican non-resident Special Envoy to Viet Nam would continue receiving favourable conditions to fulfil assigned tasks, said the Vietnamese side.

Both sides agreed to conduct the fifth round of meetings in Ha Noi with the specific date to be arranged through diplomatic channels.

During the visit, the Vietnamese delegation paid a courtesy call to Vatican Secretary for Relations with States Dominique Mamberti.

Source: VNS