Under the auspices of the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) of Vietnam and the support of the Korea Information Technology Industry Promotion Agency, the Vietnam Software and IT Services Association (Vinasa) and the Korea Software Industry Association (KOSA) jointly organized the first Vietnam - Korea Digital Forum in Seoul, Korea on August 2, 2024.

Nearly 20 Vietnamese digital tech firms and 150 delegates from South Korean associations and businesses attended the event.

After 30 years of diplomatic relation establishment, Vietnam-South Korea relations have been upgraded to a comprehensive strategic partnership. South Korea is now the biggest foreign direct investor in Vietnam. 

According to Vu Ho, the Vietnamese Ambassador to South Korea, the digital economy is what countries are striving for, including Vietnam and South Korea.

In 2022, South Korea announced its digital strategy with the goal of becoming a country with best practices in digital innovation, and a leading country in the digital era. Vietnam has also issued a national digital transformation strategy and is considered a country with strong digital economic development in both infrastructure and business market.

“Agencies and businesses of the two counties will share information and closely cooperate to find out solutions to the challenges each country is facing and obtain the goals set by the two countries,” Ho said.

Vinasa chair Nguyen Van Khoa said that South Korea is a market with great potential for Vietnam’s IT firms. The South Korean IT outsourcing market is valued at $600 billion and the figure is expected to rise to $800 billion by 2028.

To date, more than 10 Vietnamese digital firms have been doing business in South Korea with offices set up there, including FPT, CMC, NTQ Solutions and OmiGroup.

Vietnam’s firms have been providing services to South Korean enterprises, large and small and medium enterprises. Some of them have brought Make in Vietnam solutions to the South Korean market.

Recognizing the firms’ achievements and praising their pioneering spirit, Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung awarded certificates of merit to them within the framework of the Vietnam-ROK Digital Forum.

According to South Korean agencies, to ensure the best digital capability, South Korea would need 740,000 IT officers in the next five years. With the current training capability, the country will need 490,000 workers in the field

Vietnam’s Posts and Telecommunications Institute of Technology (PTIT) has signed a cooperation agreement with Seoul Cyber University on a joint training program in accordance with digital university model.

Trong Dat