HÀ NỘI — Over the weekend, high-level Vietnamese government officials made visits and extended best wishes to Christian communities across the country on the occasion of Christmas and the New Year holiday.

Deputy Prime Minister Trương Hoà Bình extended Christmas greetings to Catholic and Protestant dignitaries and followers in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai on Saturday.

The Deputy PM informed the Catholics and Protestants of the country’s achievements in socio-economic development and national defence in 2017 and thanked them for their contributions.

He expressed his hope that local Catholic and Protestant dignitaries and followers will continue promoting solidarity and contributing more to the nation’s development.

Bình also asked authorities at all levels in Gia Lai to do more to facilitate religious groups’ work in the province to promote their traditions and contribute to the great national unity bloc.

The same day, Vice President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee Ngô Sách Thực visited and extended Christmas greetings to Catholic dignitaries and followers in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bùi Chu diocese in the northern province of Nam Định.

He also visited the Việt Nam Committee for Catholic Solidarity’s Nam Định chapter and a number of Catholic dignitaries in Nghĩa Hưng and Xuân Trường districts.

Yesterday, Trương Thị Mai, head of the Mass Mobilisation Commission of the Communist Party of Việt Nam Central Committee, visited the Đà Lạt diocese.

She acknowledged the contributions of Bishop Vũ Huy Chương of the Đà Lạt diocese and dignitaries in disseminating the Party’s policies and the State’s laws to Catholic followers in the Central Highlands province of Lâm Đồng, contributing to strengthening the great national solidarity block and the local socio-economic development.

On December 22-23, delegations from the Party Committee, People’s Council, People’s Committee of the Central Highlands province of Đắk Lắk and the VFF’s chapter in the locality visited and extended Christmas greetings to Catholic and Protestant dignitaries and followers in the locality. — VNS