Digital solutions useful for Vietnam in regulatory reform

Minister-Chairman of the Government Office Tran Van Son speaks at the event. (Photo:laodong.vn)

Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam has achieved significant progress in adopting digital solutions for regulatory reform, which should be further pushed ahead to make substantial changes for greater efficiency of the state apparatus, UK Ambassador to Vietnam Gareth Ward said at the launch of a report on the adopting of digital solutions for regulatory reform on March 10.

The ambassador affirmed that the UK government will continue to support Vietnam in fully exploiting the potential in this regard.

Addressing the event, Minister-Chairman of the Government Office Tran Van Son said Vietnam made great progress in administrative reform last year with the simplification and removal of 1,101 business conditions as well as updating 7,022 existing ones. Over 3,552 public services have so far been incorporated into the national public services portal, of which 1,888 are business-related.

The database and business conditions information portal are instruments to promote transparency and publicity in regulatory reform, mobilising the active participation from residents and business community to Government’s renovation programme, he said.

According to Son, the report, drafted with help from the UK Embassy, will be useful reference for the Government Office in implementing socio-economic development programmes in general and regulatory reforms in particular. 

Dang Quang Vinh, an expert in institutional reform, said progress has been made in the country’s efforts to build an e-Government and eventually a digital Government. However, the development of e-Government in Vietnam remains modest compared to other countries in the region.

Vietnam ranked 6th in Southeast Asia in terms of e-Government development index, behind Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei and the Philippines.

Many useful digital solutions have not yet been used to accelerate business regulatory reform, he pointed out, adding that Vietnam can learn from the good experiences of other countries to push forward the application of these tools.

To enhance Vietnam’s e-Government development, he suggested that Vietnam should build laws and institutions for digital technology application, develop and exploit digital infrastructure, promote the application of digital technology in state management and public service provision and strengthen digital capacities./.