Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung pledged to pay special attention to encouraging international IT and its applications, to create a dynamic IT market before a forum opened in Hanoi on August 26.

Addressing 1,500 representatives from over 70 countries and territories at the World Information Technology Forum-2009 (WITFOR-2009), Dung emphasised that participating countries should carefully consider the role played by IT in solving challenges to sustainable development such as the use of energy, the depletion of natural resources, climate change, epidemics and poverty.

The Prime Minister, also honorary Chairman of the forum, expressed his expectation that participants would offer initiatives and recommend programmes of cooperation on new technologies to sustain socio-economic development.

Basie von Solms, President of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) said he expected Vietnam as a new IFIP member would make active contributions to the world IT network.

The three-day forum covers a wide range of topics from strategies and roles played by the business circle and the society in the application and development of the IT industry, to State-private cooperation, IT in service of sustainable development and IT trends.

The topics on e-government, telecommunication infrastructure, human resources, IT solutions to and application of lessons in various fields such as healthcare, agriculture, environment, education and trade and business are also being covered.

On the sidelines there will be numerous events, including trade promotion and community activities in an effort to make IT accessible to ordinary people.

The national IT and communication industry last year recorded over 10 billion USD in revenue. Internet users now constitute 25 percent of the national population, while mobile phones have become ubiquitous.

The country is working on a development strategy to make it an international IT power, focusing on the legal environment and human resources for the hi-tech industry./.