The northern province of Thanh Hoa has, for over a year, made digital transformation a key priority for its government. Under Resolution 06-NQ/TU issued by the provincial Party Committee, for the 2022-2025 period, digital transformation has been defined as a strategic task. This means it is considered both urgent and long-term, requiring a roadmap and clear steps and tasks.
Agriculture
Following the Resolution, the provincial Farmers’ Union and the Post Office have signed a cooperative agreement to help farmers digitally transform the production and sales of farm produce and goods. So far, over 70% of direction and guidance documents for the provincial/district levels have been posted on websites. Many agricultural products of the union’s members have been introduced on the two e-commerce platforms: Postmart.vn from the postal sector and Voso.vn by the military-owned Viettel telecom group.
The government earlier claimed the Farmers’ Union wants 4,000 households engaging in agro-forestry-fishery production, processing, and trading to offer their products on Postmart by the end of this year. It also said it would set up a showroom for Thanh Hoa farm produce and agricultural products at the Farmer Support Centre. It plans to use information technology to help local farmers enhance their knowledge about digital technology and switch from a “traditional production mindset” to a digital agriculture one, encouraging transparent information on products’ origins and promoting sustainable agriculture.
Labour
The provincial Federation of Labour has built a plan of action to implement comprehensive digital transformation across the organisation’s network of trade unions. It has invested in infrastructure to digitally transform unions at all levels, and equip them with modern devices and software to integrate data into the network of trade unions.
At present, all documents sent and received through the federation’s document management system have used digital signatures, in line with the policy of meetings without paper. In February, the “meetings without paper” began to be applied by the standing board of the federation, with all 35 units equipped to hold virtual meetings. Trade unions at levels higher than the grassroots levels and grassroots unions with large memberships have been provided with mobile speakers and projectors for communications activities.
Soon, the federation will create and share content on social media platforms, making use of artificial intelligence (AI) and analytics tools. Monthly news bulletins will also be made, along with short clips guiding procedures for the establishment of grassroots trade unions and new labour policies, as well as healthcare for workers.
According to the Chairman of the Thanh Hoa Federation of Labour, the organisation wants to deploy information processing software shared by all its units by 2025. It also wants to have 80% of work papers processed online in provincial-level trade unions. To ensure effective digital transformation, the federation will hold training courses for trade union activists and members. Trade unions are required to regularly review and propose adjustments to issues related to digital transformation. The federation will hold contests seeking ideas to promote digital transformation in production and business activities.
Vietnam has strong digital ambitions and is looking to be a regional digital hub. Global e-commerce is estimated to grow by 28.4% annually between 2020 and 2027. Meanwhile, revenue from business-to-consumer e-commerce in Vietnam is expected to increase by over 20% each year.
The Vietnamese e-commerce market is forecast to become the fastest-growing one in Southeast Asia by 2026, according to a recent report. Industry experts have said that because of the pandemic, global economies are recovering erratically, however, cross-border e-commerce in the world, including Vietnam, has still witnessed breakthrough growth.
