On June 18, Venerable Thich Thien Thong - Vice Chairman of the Executive Council, Head of the Executive Board of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (GHPGVN) of An Giang province, Head of the Congress Organizing Committee - chaired a press conference to inform about the 1st Congress of Delegates of the GHPGVN of An Giang province, term 2026 - 2031. Also attending were the Standing Venerable Monks of the Executive Board and representatives of departments, branches, and functional agencies of the province.
At the press conference, Venerable Thich Minh Nhan - Standing Deputy Head of the Executive Board of the VBS of An Giang province - said that the congress was held in Rach Gia ward with the participation of about 700 delegates. The participants included dignitaries of the Patronage Council, the Executive Council of the VBS Central Committee; representatives of the Government Committee for Religious Affairs, the Security Department, leaders of the Provincial Party Committee, People's Council, People's Committee, Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of An Giang province, along with a large number of monks and nuns, abbots of pagodas and typical Buddhists.
This is a congress of special significance in the process of consolidating the Church organization, towards building a unified and sustainable organization.
On the first working day, the congress also organized a ceremony to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the establishment of GHPGVN and one year of the merger of the Provincial Buddhist Executive Board, towards welcoming the 10th National Buddhist Congress.
According to the report submitted to the congress, in the past term, An Giang Buddhism achieved many outstanding results in Buddhist affairs. The whole province currently has 548 pagoda establishments belonging to the Bac Tong, Nam Tong Khmer, Nam Tong Kinh, Khat Si sects... with 3,123 monks, nuns, and more than 1.94 million Buddhist followers.
The field of charity and social security continues to be a bright spot when the Church has mobilized more than 322 billion VND to care for the community. The Church has built more than 178 Great Solidarity houses and maintained the effective operation of the Phat Quang Social Charity Center. In the past 24 years, the center has nurtured more than 1,000 turns of children in particularly difficult circumstances, and is currently continuing to provide free care for more than 50 orphans.
One of the outstanding highlights of the term is the promotion of digital transformation in Buddhist activities with many new models such as the deployment of digital monk and nun cards (VBSeID) integrating QR codes for identification, the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in administrative work and the strengthening of Dharma propagation on digital platforms.
Within the framework of the congress, delegates will discuss many key topics such as innovating monastic work in the digital age, preserving and promoting the cultural identity of Khmer Southern Buddhism, improving the quality of monastic training and promoting the role of the Khat Si sect in the period of integration.
According to the program, on the morning of June 19, the official opening session will take place, announcing personnel decisions, commending merits of typical collectives and individuals, and launching the Executive Board of the VBS of An Giang province for the 2026 - 2031 term.
Entering the new term, the Executive Board of GHPGVN An Giang province determined to continue implementing the theme "Discipline - Innovation - Effectiveness - Efficiency", firmly following the motto "Dao Phap - Nation - Socialism". Key tasks include preserving and promoting the cultural values of Buddhism associated with national identity; paying attention to developing Khmer Southern Buddhism and sects; improving the quality of training monks according to the 5-level Buddhist model; promoting comprehensive digital transformation in Buddhist activities; and at the same time strengthening internal discipline and order, preventing and strictly handling acts of taking advantage of religion against regulations.
The 1st Congress of the VBS of An Giang province is expected to create a solid foundation for Buddhism in the province to enter a new stage of development, continue to promote the tradition of solidarity, accompany the nation and make positive contributions to the socio-economic development of the locality.
