Factors that form the foundation of the country’s e-government must be completed in 2020, according to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.
This is one of the tasks in e-government building for the year. The PM recently chaired a teleconference in Hanoi between the National Committee on e-governance and the steering boards for e-government and e-administration building of ministries, sectors, and localities.
As per a press release, the chairman of the government office reported positive outcomes in administrative reforms and business climate improvement associated with e-government building last year.
55 of the 63 provincial-level localities have set up public administrative service centres, 95.8% of procedures have been handled on schedule, and 3,451 of the 6,191 business conditions set up by ministries and sectors have been eliminated.
Meanwhile, 6,776 of the 9,926 lines of goods subject to specialised inspection, as well as 30 of the 120 administrative procedures related to specialised inspection, have been removed.
The reduction and simplification have helped save more than 18 million workdays or over VND 6.3 trillion (US $271 million) each year, the release noted.
From 9 December 2019, when the PM launched the National Public Service Portal, to 9 February 2020, more than 44,200 accounts were opened on it.
The website recorded over 13.4 million visits, had 6,900 online dossiers handled successfully, and dealt with 4,150 opinions of people and businesses. About 3,900 calls to the switchboard were solved.
So far, 9 of the 22 ministries and ministry-level agencies and all the 63 provincial-level localities have been connected with the National Public Service Portal, it said.
The Minister of Information and Communications (MIC), Nguyen Manh Hung, said all ministries, sectors, and localities have been connected with the national e-document exchange platform, helping raise the rate of e-documents exchanged online from 72% in 2018 to 86.5% in 2019, close to the target of 20% for 2020.
The rate of online public services provided at level 4 – the highest level – surged from 4.55% in 2018 to 10.76% last year.
According to the UN’s E-Government Development Index 2018, Vietnam ranked 88th among 193 countries and 6th in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which is still low compared to the world and ASEAN’s average.
The Minister attributed the modest ranking partly to the weak performance in protecting personal data and the lack of determination in e-government building in some places. He also pointed out the incomplete database, problematic technical infrastructure, the shortage of resources for e-government building, and a limited budget for the work in many localities.
For 2020, he requested all resources to be mobilised to fulfil the goals set for the year, especially raising the rate of level-4 online public services to 30%.
He asked ministries, sectors, and localities to build a strategy on e-government for 2021-2025 with a vision to 2030; perfect relevant regulations such as issuing decrees on data management, connection and sharing, online identification and verification, and personal information protection, and amending laws on e-transactions and archives; and complete the basic factors of an e-government.
MIC has been tasked with developing a single mobile app through which people and businesses can access all services of the e-government.
