Enterprises are central to digital economic development. (Photo for illustration)

Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Thanh Hung announced the plan at a seminar on completing institutions and fundamental conditions for developing digital economy in Vietnam, taking place in Hanoi on May 2. The event was part of a series of workshops under the Vietnam Private Sector Economic Forum 2019, which opened the same day, co-chaired by the Government and the Party Central Committee's Economic Commission.

According to Hung, the Government has assigned his ministry to pen the project on national digital conversion, with its scope covering three main areas - enterprises, State agencies and society - under three periods, from the effective date to 2022, 2022-2025, and 2025 with vision to 2030.

For State agencies, the plan sets to have 80% of public services implemented at level 4 (the highest level) and most transactions between people and businesses with State management agencies on a digital environment.

As for the whole society, the draft project proposes the goal of seeking to popularise digital capacity for people and creating favourable conditions for them to access digital infrastructure at a reasonable cost, with broadband access rates set under 2% of their income.

According to Vu Dai Thang, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment, digital economy is growing in a rapid manner and has a great impact on all aspects of the socio-economic life of all countries. Thang quoted research results from Google and Temasek (Singapore), saying that Vietnam's digital economy reached US$3 billion in 2015, increased to US$9 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach US$30 billion by 2025. Meanwhile, research by Data61 (Australia) showed that Vietnam’s GDP might increase by about US$162 billion over 20 years if the country is successful in digital transformation.

In such a transformation, Thang stressed that enterprises play a key role in digital economic development. He also expressed his desire for them to proactively find solutions to apply digital technology, implement digital transformation and participate in building the fundamental elements of the digital economy.

On the Government’s side, Thang said that the State is actively researching and developing policies for Vietnam to quickly exploit such potential benefits. His ministry is also implementing the task of developing a national strategy on the fourth Industrial Revolution, including policies for digital economic development.

Experts at the event also proposed solutions to boost digital economic development in Vietnam, focusing on promoting digital economy in every economic sector, encouraging the application of technology in both small and medium enterprises, ensuring cyber security and promoting the leading role of the Government in this field, as well as facilitating a favourable institutional environment for business activities and strengthening investment in infrastructure for digital conversion.

Nhan Dan