While Vietnam moved up two places in the UN’s E-government Development Index (EGDI) against the previous ranking in 2018, the country’s sixth place in Southeast Asia remained unchanged.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the meeting. Photo: Quang Hieu

“Other countries in the region have seen bigger jumps in ranks, including Thailand [73^rd to 57^th], Indonesia [107^th to 88^th], Cambodia [145^th to 124^th], Myanmar [157^th to 146^th],” said Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at a meeting of the National Committee on e-government on March 10.

“Higher ranking in e-government development index of other countries means improvements in their respective business environment, competitiveness, and innovation,” said Phuc, adding these are factors helping countries to compete with Vietnam in various fields, especially in investment, trade and services.

The PM said “this poses a major challenge for Vietnam and therefore, puts the country in a position to step up efforts in this regard.”

Referring to resolution No.17 detailing measures to promote e-government in the 2019-20 period, with vision to 2025, Phuc said for the first time Vietnam has an overall plan for e-government development.

However, Phuc acknowledged Vietnam still needs to build an appropriate legal framework and a shared platform to push the development of e-government, which are the two major issues raised in the resolution No.17.

Despite such shortcomings, Phuc said Vietnam has gained some positive results in building e-government, including the completion of an e-government framework with an integrated platform for data sharing between ministries and provinces/cities.

“Efficient data sharing and connecting is the prerequisite for the development of digital government,” Phuc stressed.

Overview of the meeting. Photo: Quang Hieu

So far, Vietnam has built national database in terms of business registration, insurance, healthcare, education and citizen management, in turn reducing the need for paper-based administration procedures.

Phuc noted Vietnam should focus on ensuring cyber security and national sovereignty on cyber space, saying this should go hand in hand with the digital transformation process.

Meanwhile, the use of e-document between state agencies has been instrumental in saving time and costs for enterprises, which is currently accounting for 90% of total documents exchanged between agencies.

Phuc also noted over 50% of ministries and provinces/cities have started the process of digital transformation, while many local hi-tech firms have mastered core technologies that serve as the foundation for the digital transformation.

In the coming time, the PM expected local government agencies to continue pushing for the adoption of online public services and better utilization of national database on citizen management.

Phuc requested the Ministry of Resources and Environment to speed up the establishment of a national database on land management and put into operation this July.

“Greater movement in national digital transformation would contribute to the realization of socio-economic development targets,” Phuc stressed.