A conference was held on January 17 in Hanoi to discuss Vietnam’s readiness for open data and digital government (ODDG), as part of a World Bank (WB) support programme to speed up the development of e-government in the country.

Minister-Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung addresses the conference

According to Minister-Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung, administrative reform, with a focus on simplifying administrative procedures and applying information technology, has been carried out since the 1990s.

Since December 2017, the Government Office has worked with WB experts in Vietnam as well as ministries and agencies to build a report on Vietnam’s readiness for ODDG. 

The assessments look through seven aspects, including leadership and governance; user-orientation; change in working procedure; cultural customs and skills; shared infrastructure; the use of data for policymaking; cyber security; privacy and recovery capacity, he said.

Dung said that to turn determination into results, it is necessary to make legal adjustments and actions.

Achim Fock, Portfolio & Operations Manager of the WB in Vietnam, said digital government development is significant to Vietnam’s growth as it will help deal with issues related to the fourth Industrial Revolution.

The findings and recommendations in the ODDG report will help Vietnam create a better foundation for development, he said.

Meanwhile, Kim Andreasson, the WB’s digital government advisor, said Vietnam ranks 88th in a UN e-government survey on digital government, up one spot from 2016.

WB surveys also find Vietnam has made strong commitments in implementing ODDG, he said.

However, he said the biggest challenges in developing ODDG in Vietnam are a lack of legal frameworks and regulations on coordination among agencies as well as the sharing of information through internal database system among them, along with difficulties in finance and technology skills in the public sector.

The ODDG assessments will serve as an important reference for the building and implementation of digital development strategy for Vietnam, he said.-VNA