“Like exploring new lands, the expanded cyberspace will open up a new development space for the country,” Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung said at the 13th National Party Congress.
The minister acknowledged that 2020 had opened a new stage of development for the country and could be seen as a decisive year for the nation. He confirmed that it had been a milestone year for the national digital transformation program, which has shaped the vision for the development of the information and communication sector in the next 10 years.
Vietnam was one of the first countries in the world to issue a program or strategy on national digital transformation. As a nation, they are determined to actively and fully exploit the opportunities offered by the technology revolution and be a key player in the digital landscape. When connecting the internet for the first time more than 20 years ago, Vietnam set its ‘footprint’ in a completely new dimension – cyberspace. Since then, Hung, Vietnam has come a long way in socio-economic development.
And from the perspective of the information and communication sector, he is confident that digital transformation will be a driving force for Vietnam’s economic growth and social development under three pillars: digital government, digital economy and digital society.
Digital transformation has had a far-reaching impact across the country, covering all sectors and socio-economic fields. It has contributed to labour productivity, operating models and steering innovation in, significantly making the country globally competitive.
The minister emphasised that digital transformation is not merely a major development and deployment of technology but is an institutional paradigm shift. All sectors and industries need to be one step ahead, be flexible and embrace innovation – new technologies, new products, new services, new models. Only with innovation can Vietnam escape the middle-income trap.
Digital transformation has a great mission: to universalise and personalise services (such as education services, medical services, etc.) for all citizens to better serve them. At the national level, digital transformation is the transformation of digital government, digital economy and national digital society. At the local level, digital transformation is the transition to digital government, digital economy and digital society in that locality.
He opined that sustainable digital transformation is also a revolution of the people. Digital transformation can only be truly successful when each person actively participates in and enjoys the benefits brought about by digital transformation. Digital transformation creates opportunities for people in remote, border, and island areas to access online services in a fair, equitable and humane manner so that “no one is left behind”.
2020 is re-defined digital transformation and society’s awareness of digital transformation has changed dramatically. The year 2021 and the whole period of 2021 – 2025 will be a time of speeding up, with specific implementation for each sector, each field, each locality.
In the digital age where cyberspace has become the fifth strategic space, digital transformation poses an urgent requirement for autonomy. Vietnam’s digital transformation is about mastering digital infrastructure and mastering digital platforms, thereby mastering national cyberspace based on “Make in Vietnam” products.
If digital transformation is foundational to national development, then a robust cybersecurity programmer must be in place. Cybersecurity goes hand in hand with digital transformation. Identity universalisation and electronic authentication will contribute to creating a safe, civilized and widespread national cyberspace. Every citizen will have a digital identity to access online services to ensure safety and improve the reliability of services.
He reiterated that the information and communication sector will create the foundation for digital transformation, synchronously developing the three pillars of digital government, digital economy, digital society, They are committed to making Vietnam a digital, stable and prosperous country, and pioneering trial of new technologies and models by 2030.
