The government is determined to grasp opportunities from the fourth industrial revolution and develop Vietnam into an IT power, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said in his opening remarks at the Vietnam Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Summit that opened in Hanoi on September 24. 

Themed “The Digital Revolution – Opportunities and Challenges”, the annual policy and business networking forum of national scale was held by the Vietnam Software and IT Services Association (Vinasa) under the auspices of the Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC). 

The event attracted more than 500 delegates from ministries, agencies, localities and businesses at home and abroad. 

PM Phuc noted that this year, Vietnam moved up 10 spots from 2015 to the 89 th out of 193 countries in terms of e-government development. 

The country has also attracted many IT giants such as IBM, Microsoft, Intel, Toshiba and Samsung, while many domestic IT firms such as Viettel, FPT and VNPT have been known in many parts of the world. 

The PM called for more drastic and effective actions to improve national competitiveness, and suggested building Vietnam into a world centre for software industry, mobile applications and information security services. 

Ministries and agencies were asked to improve IT workforce in quantity and quality so as to provide high-quality manpower for the world digital economy. 

He expressed hope that smart city models will be built in major cities and provinces of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong, Da Nang, Can Tho and Binh Duong. 

The MoIC and Vinasa will collect suggestions at the Vietnam ICT Summit to submit to the PM for consideration. 

The event was divided into four thematic discussions on building a start-up nation, the trends of Internet of Things (IoT) and Smart City, IT infrastructure development, and cyber security and IT human resources. 

Sidelines activities include the Vietnam ICT Best Practices Exhibition and the Vietnam ICT Golf Open 2016.

VNA