Staff of the Digital Map Office of the National Population Database (Photo: nhandan.vn)

The goals of building e-government and digital government are associated with developing a digital economy and digital society to make people wealthier and happier.

Laying foundation

In 2021, the Prime Minister issued an E-government Development Strategy toward a Digital Government in the 2021-2025 period with a vision to 2030.  

It’s the first time, after 20 years of building an e-government, that Vietnam has officially issued a national strategy with major orientations on e-government development. It will guide all of Vietnam's actions in the next decade, which the United Nations considers a decade of actions to realize Sustainable Development Goals.

Through specific tasks and solutions, Vietnam aims to join the group of 50 leading countries in e-government development by 2025 and the group of 30 leading countries by 2030, according to the UN ranking.

Last year Vietnam inaugurated the National Population Database, which will be a foundation for digital citizens in cyberspace and modern population management. The database reflects the Vietnamese government’s strong commitment to serve people and businesses.

An electronic information system to process administrative procedures has been distributed from central to local levels. By August 20, 2021, 65.11% of administrative services at level 3 and 4 were online.

Level 3 allows users to fill in and send online forms to agencies and organizations providing services. Transactions are carried out completely online. Paying fees (if any) and receiving results is done in person at the offices of the agencies or organizations providing the services. Level 4 allows users to pay fees (if any) and receive results online or via postal service.

The data transmission network for Party and State agencies is now connected to all ministries, sectors, provinces, cities, and districts. There are databases for insurance, residential registration, business registration, education, and population.

Nguyen Thanh Phong, Deputy Head of the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission (Photo: VTC)

Nguyen Thanh Phong, Deputy Head of the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission, says: “A national document connection axis has been built to link administrative document systems of ministries, sectors, and localities. By August, 2021, more than 6.3 million e-documents had been exchanged between administrative agencies on the national document connection axis. The rate of e-document exchange nationwide was greater than 90%, exceeding the target set by the Government.”

Creating advantages to attract investors

The UN’s e-government ranking shows that Vietnam's general index (including online public services, telecommunications infrastructure, and human resources) is higher than the regional and global average and is in the high-level group.

The development of e-government is saving Vietnam hundreds of millions of dollars each year and improving Vietnam's competitiveness.

Vietnam’s e-government focuses on efficient online administrative services, particularly services used by many people and businesses, and high access levels.  

Information is made public on the national public service portal and the portals of ministries, provinces, and state agencies at all levels.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said at a ceremony to review the implementation of the National Population Database project and the project on Production, Issuance and Management of Identity Cards:“We need to continue to enhance the connectivity, interaction, and provision of online public services between the Government and ministries, sectors, and agencies at all levels and with other national databases to serve socio-economic development. It’s important to regularly review the national database system to ensure inheritance, connection, sharing, common use, no duplication, savings, and efficiency.”

Vietnam has striven to improve its e-government and digital government. 2021 saw important progress in this effort.