Prime Minister Le Minh Hung has stressed that ministers must personally oversee and take full responsibility for the development of national and sector-specific databases, ensuring both their quality and effectiveness.
On the afternoon of July 4, Prime Minister Le Minh Hung, who chairs the Government Steering Committee for Science and Technology Development, Innovation, Digital Transformation, and Project 06, presided over a meeting on the implementation of national and sectoral databases, strategic technologies and strategic technology products, as well as research infrastructure, testing centers, and national key laboratories.
Speaking at the meeting, the Prime Minister acknowledged that while progress had been made, implementation remained uneven and, in some cases, lacked substance.
Prime Minister Le Minh Hung calls for the swift completion of a draft resolution to remove bottlenecks in regulations governing the preparation, allocation, and assignment of funding for science, technology, and innovation activities. Photo: Nhat Bac
He noted that several critical databases managed by ministries and government agencies have yet to be connected and synchronized with the National Data Center. Some ministries have not issued data architecture frameworks, while many databases still lack clear regulations on data fields, as well as responsibilities for data collection, creation, and updating.
Outlining key tasks and solutions, Prime Minister Le Minh Hung placed particular emphasis on ministerial accountability. He instructed ministers to personally direct and take full responsibility for reviewing institutional frameworks, digital infrastructure, and data systems, while accelerating the development of databases under their respective management.
Each minister, he said, will be accountable to the Prime Minister for both implementation progress and data quality, ensuring that data are accurate, complete, clean, continuously updated, standardized, shared, interconnected, and fully synchronized with the National Data Center. Ministries were also instructed to urgently complete the integration of all remaining critical databases into the national platform.
The Prime Minister set a target of completing most database integration by the end of this year, while allowing particularly complex databases with broader impacts to follow a roadmap extending into 2027.
Regarding strategic technologies and strategic technology products, the Prime Minister said ministries and agencies had largely completed the necessary legal framework, with regulations updated and supplemented. They have also proposed numerous state-funded and privately funded projects to address major national challenges. However, implementation has remained slow and, in many cases, lacks clear direction.
He instructed the Ministry of Science and Technology, together with ministries, agencies, and local authorities, to continue identifying priority strategic technologies in line with directives and conclusions issued by Party General Secretary and State President To Lam, who also heads the Central Steering Committee.
The Prime Minister stressed that developing strategic technologies and strategic technology products must become a national priority, while investment in research centers, testing facilities, and national key laboratories should be treated as an urgent task. He also underscored the importance of developing a highly skilled workforce capable of managing and operating these facilities and called for stronger leadership accountability to accelerate implementation.
The Ministry of Science and Technology was tasked with working closely with the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Justice to develop mechanisms and policies that would exempt researchers and innovators from legal liability when undertaking science, technology, and innovation activities in the public interest, provided there is no personal gain or intentional wrongdoing.
Overview of the working session. Photo: Nhat Bac
The Prime Minister also instructed ministries and agencies to accelerate the assignment of strategic technology development projects and submit them for his approval.
Project proposals, he said, must clearly define coordination mechanisms with universities, research institutes, and businesses, specify expected outputs, explain their contributions to public administration, production activities, and economic growth, and provide detailed financing mechanisms together with projected funding requirements.
Cybersecurity must be a top priority
Later the same afternoon, Prime Minister Le Minh Hung chaired a separate meeting with the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and other agencies to discuss Vietnam's National Digital Architecture Framework.
He described the framework as the country's master blueprint for digital development and stressed that it must ensure interoperability, shared standards, and seamless connectivity throughout the political system - from the central government to local authorities - while also connecting effectively with citizens and businesses.
The Prime Minister instructed relevant agencies to complete a comprehensive review of the framework and submit the finalized version no later than July 10 for approval.
Once approved, ministries, local governments, and other agencies must revise their own digital architecture frameworks to ensure strict compliance with the national framework and guarantee full interoperability and data connectivity.
The Prime Minister placed particular emphasis on cybersecurity, information security, and data protection, warning that any compromise or manipulation of data could have extremely serious consequences.
"Cybersecurity and data protection must be treated as one of the highest priorities throughout the implementation process," he said.
Vietnamnet.vn
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