Experts speak at the forum in Ha Noi on Wednesday. (Photo: VNS) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - As digital transformation was vital for the developmentof Vietnam’s economy, local businesses had no other choice than joining tobenefit from the trend, a top economics journalist has said.
Speaking at a forum in Hanoi on November 11, Chu Van Lam,editor-in-chief of Editor in Chief of the Thoibao Kinh te Viet Nam (Vietnam Economic Times), said: “Enterprisesare the core of the economy, can not outside the digital, especially in thecontext of the pandemic which is changing the world with a transition towardsthe digital economy.”
The forum, held by VietnamEconomic Times and local investment promotionalliance Invest Global, aimed to identify and evaluate the reality ofdigital transformation activities of enterprises in different industries andproposed solutions to help businesses speed up digital transformation.
According to the organisers, the Government has approved the National DigitalTransformation Programme to 2025, with a vision to 2030 with the goal of makingVietnam a digital country, addingthat such transformation process could help businesses reduce costs, controlrisks, improve labour and business efficiency and reach customers more easily.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Vu quoted the WorldEconomic Forum (WEF) prediction that by 2022, the digital economy would accountfor 60 percent of the world's GDP.
Vu said though the prediction was only 7 percent of GDP in ASEAN, the digitaleconomy could be expected to contribute an additional 1 trillion USD to theworld economy in the next decade.
Experts at the forum said Vietnam had huge advantages for digitaltransformation with a population of nearly 100 million, of whom more than 70percent use the internet, a dynamic technology level and great supportfrom the Government.
Doan Duy Khuong, Vice President of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry(VCCI) and chairman of ASEAN BAC said: “ASEAN is a special partner and animportant market for Vietnam with a large area with a population of 650 millionpeople. Therefore, Vietnamese enterprises will not only focus on thevalue-added chain in the domestic market but also in the region.”
“The organic links between industrial production and digitaltransformation are extremely important. Vietnam needs to take advantage ofdigital transformation, companies and industrial corporations in thecountry must pioneer and embrace advanced technology to create a supplychain of the region," he added.
Also at the forum, Dang Hoang Hai, director of the Department of E-Commerce andDigital Economy, Ministry of Industry and Trade, said: “In 2015-2019,e-commerce scale increased rapidly with an average growth rate of 30 percent.Online shopping is developing very well this year especially amid the pandemic,which has created a huge number of people participating in the e-commercemarket.”
Hai added that with the development trend of e-commerce, businesses inthis field were very optimistic about growth in 2020 and beyond. The positivegrowth of e-commerce in the current period has made many domesticenterprises well aware of the digital transformation trend and consider itan inevitable choice.
Mentioning the challenges of the transformation, Deputy Minister Vu said asenterprises were the core to change, the habit of going digital greatlydepended on the quality of human resources and the determination of the leadersof enterprises.
Truong Anh Dung, director of the General Department of Vocational Education,Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, said: “Vietnam has arapidly developing infrastructure, young, creative, and rapidly adapting humanresources but another challenge is the low know-how of information technologyamong the common people while the technology training system is still limited.”
“It is clear that the education and training system can not help all people, sothe role of technology enterprises with their strengths is to support buildinginfrastructure, and human resources to meet the demand," he said.
The vocational training expert said another difficulty was the limitedinvestment resources for the digital transformation of businesses.
“After the National Digital Transformation programme, there must be a strategyproject for training enough resources to reach the target," he added.
By 2025, Vietnam set a digital economy target to account for 20 percent of GDP,the proportion of the digital economy in each industry and field will reach atleast 10 percent and the labour productivity will increase by more than 7 percentper year on average. By that time Vietnam should be in the group of 35countries leading in innovation and creativity./.
VNA
