Government speeds up digital transformation

The Vietnamese Government will lead the way in digital transformation to mobilize public-private investment in this process, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at the meeting.

He made the statement in Tokyo on Wednesday morning during his meeting with leaders of several major Japanese digital enterprises in his four-day official visit to the country.

Chinh said Viet Nam has many advantages in economic development and digital transformation, notably a fast-growing and highly open economy, as demonstrated by the fact that Viet Nam has signed 17 free trade agreements with 60 economies, including major markets such as the US, the European Union (EU), Japan, China, South Korea, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Viet Nam's ability to adapt and embrace major development trends in the world, including digital technology and digital transformation, is very obvious, Chinh said.

Viet Nam has also adopted a national digital transformation programme to 2025, with the dual purpose of developing digital economy, digital society, and digital government, and establishing Vietnamese digital businesses with global capacity.

This programme is closely linked with other programmes on green growth and climate change and the Government targets to raise the share of the digital economy in GDP to 20 per cent by 2025 and 30 per cent by 2030.

Answering questions from businesses, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that Viet Nam will continue to perfect the digital transformation institutions based on practical demand.

Along with that, Viet Nam has a human resource training programme, first of all, to raise awareness and promote people's knowledge about the importance of digital transformation.

“Digital transformation is not only guided by the Government but also includes the participation of people and businesses, as we’re putting people at the centre, and all policies must be directed towards the benefit of the people and businesses,” Chinh said.

The Prime Minister also said that Viet Nam has been spending appropriate, effective and scientific financial resources for digital transformation; investing in technology, and improving national governance capacity.

He said Viet Nam's policy is to rapidly modernise the financial and banking sectors so that these fields can take the lead in digital transformation.

"Like other countries, Viet Nam has its approach, suitable to its conditions and circumstances, but not separate from the general approach of the world, because only then can we cooperate,” he said.

Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Huy Dung added that the COVID-19 pandemic has strongly promoted digital transformation in Viet Nam.

In 20 years, the proportion of people using online public services has only reached 12 per cent, but in just one quarter during the COVID-19 pandemic, this rate doubled to 24 per cent.

Now, 80 per cent of students in the country are studying online, higher than the average (more than 60 per cent) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The Government of Viet Nam has many policies to promote data development, achieving the goal of entering the top 50 countries with open data by 2025, and the top 30 by 2030.

Regarding human resources, Viet Nam currently has about one million workers in the information technology industry and in the 2025-2030 period, the country will need more than two million workers for this field.

Therefore, Viet Nam will implement training policies such as building majors in digital transformation, training online with higher quality and faster speed.

At the meeting, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said that Viet Nam is implementing a programme to support businesses in digital transformation for the 2021-2025 period, according to which, by 2025, 100 per cent of enterprises are aware of the importance of digital transformation; and a minimum of 100,000 businesses receiving support from the programme.