The development of smart cities in Vietnam is a must and still in an early stage, Kinh te & Do thi quoted Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Huy Dung as saying at the Smart City Summit 2020 via teleconference on November 24.

Mr. Dung said that development of a smart city is the implementation of digital transformation for a city with three major elements namely digital government, digital economy and digital society.

Smart city perspective in Dong Anh district, Hanoi. Photo: Kinhtedothi.vn

The deputy minister said that from a policy perspective, smart cities are grounds to pilot the implementation of new services, models and policies through the use of new digital technologies.

This direction will solve many issues that still exist in traditional urban areas, Mr. Dung noted.

Truong Gia Binh, chairman of the Vietnam IT Software and Services Association (VINASA) affirmed that smart city development is an irreversible trend. Building smart cities is the optimal solution to solve a series of urbanization-related problems.

The model with new technology application will help urban areas develop more sustainably through optimizing resources, protecting the environment, enhancing security, and meeting people's demands, Mr. Binh added.

“All Vietnam's efforts in smart city development are aimed at three fundamental goals which are sustainable urban environment, high-quality life for residents and a competitive economy,” said Mr. Tran Quoc Thai, director of the Department of Urban Development under the Ministry of Construction.

The 2020 Smart City Summit is a great opportunity for regulatory agencies, experts, speakers and enterprises from Vietnam and abroad to share and contribute their experiences in the building and development of smart cities.

Smart city is a development trend for all cities around the world and the Vietnamese government has always emphasized that the development of smart cities is a breakthrough to improve national competitiveness.

In addition to working legal documents governing the matter, Vietnam has proactively joined smart cities networks in the region and around the world. Vietnam now has three cities having joined the ASEAN Smart Cities Network since 2018 and nearly 40 localities implementing smart city models.