Speaking at the ASEAN Smart Cities Summit & Export 2020, Pirm Minister Phuc said being a member of the ASEAN Smart Cities Network and having acute awareness of the trends of the times, Vietnam has applied policies and made efforts to develop smart cities.

Building smart cities is one of three core tasks in the national digital transformation process during the 4.0 industry era.

Vietnam aims to develop smart sustainable cities on the basis of smart management and smart utilities, creating favorable conditions for transactions between the government and regulators, the public, and investors.

He said developing smart cities is a ‘big game’ in which the players need to have vision and capability. They should aim for humanitarian goals – a happy life and people’s comprehensive development, environmental protection and a sustainable development urban ecosystem.

Vietnam considers the development of smart cities a strategy which can make a breakthrough in helping the national competitiveness.

Vietnam should consider opportunities and risks, local demands and capability. This must be done not just to follow the crowd. It is necessary to do this step by step, selectively and in accordance with a reasonable roadmap.

The Prime Minister emphasized that Vietnam needs to develops smart cities in association with a strong information infrastructure, e-government and digital government and urban area development.

Vietnam should consider opportunities and risks, local demands and capability. This must be done not just to follow the crowd. It is necessary to do this step by step, selectively and in accordance with a reasonable roadmap.

Vietnam needs to approach smart cities in an effective way, based on the 35 years of doi moi (renovation), and developing added value brought by new technologies, and promoting the distinctive cultural identity of ASEAN and the specific characteristics of the member states.

Local authorities, along with the development of smart utilities, need to build an intelligent database platform for making smart decisions; and promote smart city management planning and solutions.

In developing smart cities, Vietnam needs to attract the strong participation of the private sector. A smart city must be a city created by people and enterprises.

It is a city with good social relations, preserving and promoting good cultural traditions and humanitarian relations among people.

He said that Vietnam will continue to promote scientific strategic programs, develop high-quality human resources, and harmoniously combine programs on innovation, digital transformation and sustainable smart city development orientation.

At the forum, Head of the Party Central Committee's Economic Commission Nguyen Van Binh said the demand for developing sustainable smart cities has become urgent.

It is estimated that 55 percent of the population of the world are living in urban areas, and it is expected that 70 percent of the total population in the world will live in urban areas by 2050.

Cities create 80 percent of GDP of the world, but they produce 70 percent of total CO2. The fourth industry revolution is changing the face of urban areas.

In ASEAN, more than half of the population lives in urban areas and urbanization in the region is proceeding rapidly.

Urbanization offers opportunities for socio-economic development, and improvement and enhancement of people's lives, but it also poses many challenges from the increasingly high population concentration which consumes many resources, thus having a negative impact on the environment and leading to an overload of technical and social infrastructure systems.

Now, when the Covid-19 is having negative impact all over the globe and the influences of climate change are increasingly clear, developing sustainable smart cities is a necessity.

The big question is how urbanization and digital transformation can help countries take advantage of opportunities for development, while increasing the efficiency use of resources, limiting negative impact on the environment, and reducing the load on technical and social infrastructure.

Minister of Construction Pham Hong Ha said developing smart cities not only promises bright prospects, but may also bring risks. Vietnam is at the beginning the journey of increasing and applying new knowledge. The world will continue to study this trend to find a more optimal solution.

But in the immediate time, the efforts by countries to determine the "smartness" suitable to their conditions are very important, in order to contribute to the development of their smart cities and global sustainable development in general. 

Duy Anh

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