Hanoi (VNA) - On November 21, the 2024 Vietnam-Republic of Korea digital cooperation forum took place in Hanoi under the theme “Vietnam-RoK: Partners towards the AI era,” as part of the Vietnam 2024 International Digital Week.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Phan Tam noted that the RoK is a leading country in digital technology and a key partner of Vietnam.
The two countries share many similarities and cooperation opportunities, especially in the development of digital government and digital human resources.
Over the past time, Vietnam and the RoK have engaged in specific and practical cooperative activities such as human resource training, enhancing the capacity of Vietnamese agencies, consultations during the drafting of the laws on e-transaction and the digital technology industry, and implementing the Vietnam-RoK ITCP project.
Deputy Minister Tam hoped that through the forum, Vietnam can learn more from the RoK’s experiences and breakthrough approaches to fully leverage digital technology, narrow down the digital gap, support disadvantaged groups, and create more cooperation opportunities between Vietnamese and Korean businesses.
Hur Sung Wook, President of the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA) of the RoK, shared that since August 2023, the two countries have cooperated on digital transformation and artificial intelligence (AI) development, following a visit by Vietnamese Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung to the RoK.
During that visit, officials of the two countries held discussions, shared strategies, and sought cooperation opportunities in several fields.
Hur Sung Wook said he expects the forum to unlock development potential for both nations in applying AI to the digital economy.
At the forum, Jang Ho Seung, RoK consul general to Vietnam, expressed his desire to further enhance digital cooperation between the two countries.
“The two countries can cooperate in building core digital infrastructure, data centres, AI-compatible technology ecosystems, and leading the way in developing legal frameworks for AI,” he said.
According to Deputy Minister Tam, Vietnam has recognised digital transformation as an inevitable trend, a strategic choice, and an objective requirement.
To fully utilise the potential of digital technology, Vietnam has developed and implemented several related programmes and strategies.
These include the national digital transformation programme, the national strategy for digital economy and digital society development, the strategy for developing e-government towards a digital government, the national strategy for research, development, and application of AI, and the national data strategy.
With these efforts, Vietnam has made significant progress in international digital transformation rankings. In 2024, Vietnam’s e-government development index rose 15 places, ranking 71st out of the 193 countries.
The country also climbed two places in the rankings of Global Innovation Index in 2024 to 44th out of the 133 countries, and eight places in terms of the Global Cybersecurity Index for 2024, ranking 17th out of the 194 countries.
Vietnam is currently prioritising the development of virtual assistants tailored to each government agency to support administrative procedures and help civil servants access legal information, improve work efficiency, and enhance the quality of public services.
Deputy Minister Tam shared with Korean organisations and businesses one successful virtual assistant model in Vietnam, which is the virtual assistant at the Supreme People’s Court.
This virtual assistant, which has been tested since 2022, serves as a personal assistant, programmed with legal expertise and court operations, and communicates with judges in natural language.
The integration of virtual assistant into the court system has addressed some internal issues. So far, the court’s virtual assistant has handled nearly 6 million queries, averaging 10,000-15,000 queries daily, saving an estimated 37 billion VND (1.45 million USD) annually./.
