The Vietnamese national database systems on population and citizen identification card issuance and management debuted earlier this week, in the presence of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.
These two systems, developed and implemented by the Ministry of Public Security, reflect the government’s determination to shift from paper-based to electronic document management. According to a press release, the national database on population is the most important system among the six national databases to help develop e-government.
Last year, in a move to digitalise government processes, the Deputy Prime Minister ordered that all documents sent and received on the national electronic document exchange platform must be digitally signed and authenticated. The project was in line with a national e-document exchange platform launched in March 2019, as part of wider efforts to build e-government systems. Ministries, agencies, and local authorities completed connecting their document management systems in June 2020.
The project on citizen identification card production, issuance, and management was approved by the government last September. The Ministry of Public expects to issue chip-based ID cards to 50 million citizens by 1 July this year. Under the Law on Citizen Identification, citizens that are 14 years of age can obtain an ID card, which is then renewed when they turn 25, 40, and 60 years old. More than 29,000 citizens have obtained new ID cards to date, including 1,369 delegates to the 13th National Party Congress.
At the beginning of the year, the government launched three platforms to help press agencies in their digital transformation. The first was an electronic editorial office management platform, moving all office operations to the digital environment, including the management of the publication process, internal management, two-way interactions with readers, traffic measurement, technology application, and content display. This was expected to help prepare for the pay model for Vietnam’s newspapers in the near future.
The Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) has assessed and selected electronic editorial office management platforms in the market, and for the first year will exempt fees for all basic modules and all infrastructure services, including hosts, transmission lines, and content distribution throughout the country.
The second platform analyses information and public opinion on social networks, thus helping press agencies grasp information quickly and provide information that readers want at the time they need. This will help the organisations reform their operations, improve competitiveness, and increase the number of readers.
The third platform aims to help prevent and fight cyberattacks and provide an emergency response, creating a shield for press agencies’ information systems and protect their operation in the digital environment.
These platforms fall under services and solutions developed under the ‘Make in Vietnam’ slogan, initiated by MIC. The ministry explained it is a term to convey the strategy, the call, and the shift in the development direction of Vietnamese digital technology.
MIC wants to encourage the shift from assembling and processing to creating and designing, thereby giving birth to Vietnamese digital products. When implementing the “Make in Vietnam” strategy, businesses will have to be more creative and design more, thus mobilising Vietnamese intelligence, and solving the problems the country faces.
Through the “Make in Vietnam” strategy, Vietnam will improve the quality of growth, build an autonomous economy, and participate more deeply in the global value chain. This approach will help Vietnam soon realise its goal to become a modern, industrialised country.
