The Government of Vietnam had devised national projects and programmes towards development of information technology infrastructure and wide application of IT in state agencies, creating a basis for development of e-government and raising labour productivity, as well as reducing operational costs.

These remarks were made by Nguyen Minh Hong, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications, at the FutureGov Forum Vietnam 2011, in Hanoi on June 14.

The national projects and programmes also focused on providing of online information and public services, making state agencies’ operations more transparent and providing better services for people and businesses, he said.

The Deputy Minister spoke off solutions being taken in Vietnam , such as digital signatures in transactions and completion of national databases on population and land, and application of new technologies. The country was building e-government architecture to enhance services and as the new mode of harnessing public-private human resources.

At the forum, representatives from the ministries of industry and trade, health, and finance shared models of applying IT and orientations for development, in order to improve the efficiency of online public services in management.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade leads the country in implementing online public services, such as the system of granting e-certificates of origin and the system of noxious chemical declaration.

Digital technology not only allows people to access services from remote, border and island areas, but also helps governments reduce expenditure for public services, said international experts.

Lessons from the Republic of Korea showed that management of sources of information and implementation of e-government services through a national data system help relevant agencies overcome challenges in sharing information and in managing the quality of information from different sources, they said.

The forum, jointly held by the Office of the National Steering Committee for Information Technology and Singapore’s Alphabet Media, enabled domestic and foreign IT experts to share experiences and discuss strategies and challenges in developing e-government in Vietnam./.