World Bank Country Director for Vietnam Osmane Dione (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The Vietnamese Government should paid due attention tooutlining policies to promote breakthrough technologies as well as to bolster digitaleconomic development in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, WorldBank Country Director for Vietnam Osmane Dione said on March 7.
At a workshop themed “Policy Aspects for Vietnam Digital Economic Development”,jointly held by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) and the World BankGroup in Hanoi, he described cyber security and its crucial role in protectingonline customers as important factors to develop Vietnam’s digital economy.
Enhancing digital skills for local residents should be priorities in theGovernment’s policies to ensure that equal opportunities from the digitaleconomy are offered to all, the official suggested, adding that the educationsystem must be improved to well meet the market requirements.
According to Dang Hoang Hai, head of the MoIT’s Department of E-commerce andDigital Economy, Vietnam has a total population of more than 96 million people,64 million of whom get access to the Internet and 57 percent of the populationhave social accounts.
Last year, e-commerce grew 30 percent with a total revenue from retail salereaching 8 billion USD, and the figure is expected to surge to 13-15 billionUSD, Hai said.
Meanwhile, Natasha Beschorner, Senior Information and Communications Technology(ICT) Policy Specialist at the World Bank’s Global ICT Department, said that digitaleconomy does not mean Internet access only, but it must integrate digitalservices of both Government and businesses, especially as cash is still themost common and credible means of payment in Vietnam.
Also, she said that the Government should prioritise policies to promote onlinetransactions and tax services to branch out the logistics sector, which playsan important part in the digital economy.
Favourable policies will decide the growth and the quality of the digitaleconomic development in Vietnam, she added.-VNA
VNA
